(From left) Kemparaju, Pillappa and Munivenkatappa from A K Colony, Chikkabanavara, say they are struggling to find alternative careers.
Credit: DH photo/Shradha Triveni
Bengaluru: In a stark contrast to Bengaluru’s story as the ever-progressing, cosmopolitan hub lies the undeniable reality of manual scavengers, who live among us and often go unnoticed.
From the heart of the city like Shivajinagar, Majestic, K R Market and to its fringes in places like Hebbal, Hesaraghatta and Peenya, the lives of Septic and Sewer Tank Workers (SSWs) is in shambles, with little to no hope of finding an alternative career.
Septic and sewer tank workers Dilip Kumar and Ravi Kumar lost their lives while cleaning the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Prestige Falcon City Apartment, Kanakapura Road last year.
Kemparaju in Chikkabanavara seeks refuge in alcoholism to put up with the smell of manholes.
“I am too old to get into pits now,” says 83 year old Munivenkatappa, sitting on the floor dampened by rain. Munivenkatappa lost his daughter to Covid-19, during which he spent
Rs 1 lakh of “rehabilitation money” on hospital bills. He moved to a rented house with his wife Narsamma after his government-given house collapsed in rain last month.
Hanumantharaya, who was promised a Rs 3.5 lakh housing incentive started building the house when he got Rs 50,000 in the first installment. His dreamhouse is now half-constructed.
These are stories of neglect and brings to fore the deplorable conditions these workers live in. Even as a decade has passed since the implementation of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSRA) and three decades since Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, 42 out of 96 deaths in Karnataka were reported in Bengaluru in the last 30 years, highest in the state. Nothing has changed.
While grassroot activists call for a comprehensive action plan to end the generational sin committed against people involved in manual scavenging, mainly from SC/ST communities, the government has inordinately brushed the harsh reality of manual scavengers under the carpet for decades.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court had issued guidelines for all the state governments to conduct a survey of manual scavengers. As per the guidelines, the survey was required to be initiated in March 2024 and finished by August 2024. Even after extending the deadline to September 15, the Karnataka government had not initiated the survey till October this year.
Dr K B Obalesha, State Convenor of Safaikarmachari Kavalu Samiti (KSSK) said, there is an alarming absence of data on manual scavengers, stemming from government apathy to conduct systematic surveys with ambiguous definitions of manual scavengers.
Policy gaps
According to the 2013 Act, manual scavenger is a person engaged or employed by an individual or a local authority for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of human excreta in an insanitary latrine, open drain, pit or railway track into which human excreta is disposed of, before it fully decomposes.
However, Obalesha said, with a staggering number of apartment complexes in Bengaluru, people who clean STPs go unnoticed as manual scavengers.
Karnataka has 7,493 identified manual scavengers with highest in Bengaluru with 1,625 manual scavengers under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
However, Obalesha says, there could be nearly 25,000 manual scavengers in Bengaluru alone, who are made to clean open drains, underground drainage systems, insanitary latrines and household pits, without officially being “employed” as manual scavengers.
Chandrakala KSG, Secretary, Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karmacharis said that the commission has instructed district officials to carry out the identification of manual scavengers in each district. She attributed the delay in initiating the survey to pending rehabilitation of existing manual scavengers in Karnataka.
Criticizing the centre’s National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE), which aims to “rehabilitate” manual scavengers, Ramon Magsaysay winning human rights activist and national convenor of Safai Karmachari Andolan, Bezwada Wilson said that the proposal contradicts itself.
He said: “Without announcing a proper rehabilitation package and a comprehensive action plan, the government has asked the manual scavengers to voluntarily register in the district and taluk level camps. When the law proposes to penalise manual scavenging, why would a manual scavenger come up to the government and register himself, unless he knows how he will be benefited?”
Inadequacies in tech
As Bengaluru is the startup capital of India with innovations taking place across fields, Dr Siddharth Joshi from KSSK commented on the inadequacies in tech interventions to end manual scavenging.
He said, every district and taluk panchayat is required to have a sucking machine to unclog manholes and open drains. “But there is little knowledge about its functioning,” he said.
“Mostly, the technology invented to clean pits and open drains have failed due to poor design of underground drainage systems and a number of materials that get flushed down, like sanitary pads. This makes people use spades to unclog, carry waste in their heads, forcing continued manual scavenging,” he said.
He said that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) had out rightly dismissed the proposal to buy machines, citing exceeding costs and lack of training.
Way forward
In order to permanently eliminate manual scavenging and help communities to find alternative careers, Obalesha thinks the government must release a fund of Rs 300 crore, rather than providing assistance to make them skilled at doing what they already know.
Pointing out the bleak conflicts within bureaucracy, Bezwada Wilson suggests that the government must involve grassroots organisations while surveying manual scavengers. He said that several are afraid to come out as manual scavengers since the law prohibits manual scavenging. “Unless the government’s promises are clear, there won’t be an end to this historic injustice,” he said.