Tamil Nadu: A 55-year-old engaged as a manual scavenger died of asphyxiation while cleaning a septic tank in Tamil Nadu on Thursday.
The deceased, identified as Sadiq Batcha, had gone to clean a septic tank when he died following prolonged exposure to toxic fumes and poisonous gases.
Batcha's death comes two days after 25-year-old Arunkumar died under similar circumstances while cleaning a septic tank in Express Avenue mall in Tamil Nadu's Chennai.
Arunkumar, along with four others including his brother Ranjithkumar, had gone to manually clean a septic tank in Express Avenue mall in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Ranjithkumar, reportedly went inside the tank first and collapsed immediately.
Seeing this, Arunkumar jumped in to rescue his brother and pushed Ranjith up but couldn't come out of the septic tank himself.
He suffocated inside the tank and died on the spot.
Arunkumar's body has been sent to a government hospital for autopsy and an investigation on the matter is on.
These are not isolated incidents, as per the data released by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of sewer deaths with 144 cases reported so far.
The numbers are much higher for the state according to another government survey, which states that as many as 206 manual scavengers died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks between 1993 and July 2019 in Tamil Nadu alone, making it the highest ranking state so far as deaths owing to manual scavenging is concerned.
Despite a 2013 law prohibiting employment of manual scavengers, the survey identified 54,130 people engaged in this job across India as of July 2019.
The provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, have not been implemented effectively.
The Act prohibits engagement or employment, either directly or indirectly of any person for hazardous cleaning of sewer or septic tank.
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Apart from the 2013 law, the passing of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, also put a ban on manual scavenging but it continues to find practitioners.
Mostly sub-castes of Dalits-Valmiki or Hela- forced to be at the bottom of the social hierarchy, take up this lowly job, not knowing that human faeces and urine harbour a variety of diseases.
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They may carry Hepatitis A, E. coli, Rotovirus, Norovirus, and pinworms. The community risks infection by coming in contact with these wastes.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 14, 2019, said that manual scavenging has not been curtailed in India despite laws and regulations in place.
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The WHO report titled 'Health, Saftey, and Dignity of Sanitation Workers - An Initial Assessment' pointed out that the inhuman practice has now been forced underground.
The most undesirable and high-risk jobs are typically subcontracted to temporary, informal workers despite a substantial formal and permanent sanitation workforce now being present in India, with basic working conditions protected by law, the report highlighted.
