Step children of Swachh Bharat: How manual scavenging still thrives in Delhi

Twenty-three-year-old Ranjit's job can land his employer behind bars. But that doesn't dissuade people from entering his line of work, thanks to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.

Ranjit, a resident of Okhla Phase-II, cleans septic tanks. He is among thousands of people from his Valmiki community who clear human excreta for a living.

The practice attracts imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of Rs 2,000 on individuals or organisations who hire such labour under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. The law was extended in 2003 to cover people working in septic tanks and sewer lines. But surprisingly, not even a single employer has been booked to date for engaging a septic tank worker even as new public toilets being built under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan have spawned more septic tanks and sewers; paradoxically increasing the need for more manual scavengers and septic tank cleaners.

The life stories of these workers betray an entrenched caste-based discrimination that shamefully persists in the Capital even now, preventing them from applying for any other job.

"At first, I couldn't get myself to do it (cleaning a septic tank). But then I realised that no one will give me any other job because I belong to the Valmiki caste. So I had no other option," says Ranjit, who has been doing the job for three years now. "My father, who used to clean septic tanks for the past 30 years, is ill and bed-ridden now," he says.

According to him, it can take several hours to clean a septic tank, especially if it has not been cleaned for long. The working hours are mostly during the night and depend on the demand. "It takes three people up to six hours to clean a septic tank," Ranjit adds. The remuneration of Rs 1,200 is then divided among the three workers, with each earning a meagre Rs 400 for cleaning an entire tank.

Stinking reality

"I smell of poop for days after work, making it impossible to eat," says Ranjit, who is also worried about diseases such as TB and jaundice, which his job makes him prone to.

"The odour is extremely bad. My father used to drink alcohol before entering a tank. That was the only way for him to be able to stand the stink. Some people say alcohol buffers you against the noxious methane emanating from the tank," he explains.

Before entering a tank, Ranjit uses a bamboo stick to measure its depth and also to find out if there are any poisonous insects or reptiles in there.

Ranjit says he works mostly for private homes. Working on sewer lines owned by the government, he claims, doesn't pay much or offer him a regular job. The PRO of Delhi Jal Board, however, denied the claim, saying that manual cleaning of sewer lines has been banned and hence the agency doesn't hire workers to clean sewer lines.

Bezwada Wilson, founder of Safai Karmachari Andolan, a national movement committed to the eradication of manual scavenging and rehabilitation of scavengers, blames lack of initiative on the part of authorities in emptying the tanks mechanically.

"There has been no mechanisation of sewer lines or septic tanks since 1947," says Wilson. "You cannot build two lakh toilets and have no ready mechanism to empty the pits. Also, after the government wielded the broom for a day, the scavenging community feels its profession is not that bad," he adds.

"Unfortunately, even among government officials there is no awareness about the safety and employment of manual scavengers. Then how do we expect private parties to know about it?" Wilson asks. "It is a tedious process - the implementation of the Act," he adds.

An unofficial estimate by Hazards Centre, a Delhi-based NGO, puts the number of manual scavengers in Delhi at around 60,000. "The real figure, I suspect, is much higher," says Dunu Roy, director of Hazards Centre.

Roy blames innate structural problems that continue to act as a challenge in solving the issue. "Most of these sewer lines and septic tanks were designed in the early 1960s, taking into account the population size of those days. You cannot pass a judgement banning manual scavengers when there are innate structural problems. Septic tank cleaners will be employed as long as there is human excreta," says Roy.

A 2003 Supreme Court order recommends the practice of entering sewer lines without safety gear a crime even in emergency situations.

The death of a worker resulting from such situations requires the employer to pay compensation to the tune of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the deceased, the order stipulates.

High casualty

All those families who have lost a member while doing sewerage work since 1993 are also eligible for the same amount. The verdict was aimed at dissuading future generations from taking up manual scavenging as a job.

"These are just written words," says Wilson, the Safai Karmachari Andolan founder, about the Supreme Court verdict.

"Most of the deaths are not even accounted for. Then there is the larger question of whether a worker actually died while on the job. In the end, the compensations are never delivered," Wilson rues.

"The official death figure in Delhi due to manual scavenging is just 18. The unofficial numbers are way too high and growing by the day," he says with a note of caution.