Centre’s ill-informed statement on sanitation workers indicates ignorance about their daily drudgery

In the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament, the Union minister for state Ramdas Athawale stated that sanitation workers across the country are occupation-based and their caste has no role to play in it.

Around the same time when the Centre made this ill-informed statement about the sewage and septic workers in India, the Madurai City Administration was facing protests by sanitary workers. The protesters were aggrieved by unsafe working conditions, irregular and meagre pay, ill-treatment from their private contractors and a pending compensation for the death of a fellow employee. 

Madurai, which is known to be one of the oldest living cities in the world and a symbol of Tamil heritage, is facing a deplorable situation. Four first-year law students named Arihara Chinnayan, Varsha, Jeeya Tamilarasi and Mahasri from Tamil Nadu National Law University who recently went for a field study to understand the concerns of sanitary workers as a part of their human rights internship at People’s Watch revealed the truth that contradict the Centre’s opinion. 

According to the National Safai Karamchari Commission’s data, Tamil Nadu has recorded the most deaths (258) of sewage/septic tank workers in the last 30 years. 

The recent protests by sanitation workers, the students’ visit and the workers’ testimonies present a disturbing image of the current state of affairs. Ranging from caste stigmatisation (most of them belonging to the Arundhathiyar caste, a Scheduled Caste community in southern India) to the safety gear supposed to be provided to them, the government has failed to save them in every respect since more than 10 years have passed after the enactment of the 2013 legislation. 

No safety mechanisms in place

Shockingly, the students found the workers on the street just a few meters away from one of the most famous temples of south India, the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, where they lamented about their bleak situation.

Of the many grievances the workers shared, the worst is the accessibility to safety gear like gloves, masks and disinfectants. Although the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 mandates the authorities to provide safety equipment to the workers, they hardly receive anything from their employees.

They have to use their bare hands to clean the septic tank, and the heavy rod they use often hurts and slips from their hands while cleaning. The gloves they rarely provide are also not very helpful as they hurt their hands and create blisters due to their non-compatibility with the heavy rods. 

“We are not provided with uniforms, gloves, sanitisers, or any safety equipment. We cannot even expect basic provisions like hand washing when we are denied fair wages for our work. If we get injured during the job and go to the hospital, we are segregated from other patients as though we are carriers of disease despite cleaning the waste they generate. Even my house stinks when we enter, and our children have to stay away from us because of this unhygienic condition,” rued a sanitary worker.

The protests by the workers were also caused by their ill-treatment at the hands of private contractors from a company named Ourland Limited.

Poor working conditions

The sanitary workers also reported their discontent with the manner in which the working hours and their daily activities are organised. Their journey from long distances every day, the insufficient pay and unhealthy working conditions make life very difficult for them. 

“The absence of basic facilities such as restrooms or places to rest makes our work even more difficult, especially for women. The physically demanding nature of our job is exacerbated by these poor working conditions. We are paid a daily wage of Rs 575, which is far less than what is specified in GO 62(2)d. From this amount, I spend around Rs 200 on travel and another Rs 100 on food, leaving me with less than Rs 200 to manage my household expenses. It is nearly impossible to run a family of five on this meagre amount. Because of our low wages, I struggle to provide nutritious food for my children,” a worker sobbed. 

These workers don’t have access to the Ayushman Card to avail themselves of the benefits of the schemes introduced by the government to uplift their lives, especially the health of these sanitation workers. 

Another shocking revelation made by these law students is that while workers don’t currently have an office to sign their attendance or a restroom to use, the building previously used as a city corporation’s premise (where they make their daily signatures) is currently used as an Anganwadi without any renovation./

The young school-going children are also unscrupulously made to bear this foul odour and attend schools amid unhygienic buckets, garbage carts and other equipment, which warrants the immediate intervention of the authorities. 

These law students are now writing to the city administration to take strict action against this blatant malfeasance of corporation authorities.

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