It is the peculiar reality of a modern city like Bengaluru – while Dalits continue to bear the brunt of socially declared reservation in manual scavenging across the state, migrant labourers too, have now been added to that list.
On Monday, three workers, all migrants in Bengaluru died after descending into a sewage treatment plant in a residential apartment complex in Bengaluru’s Electronic City area. Ranjan (32) was from Odisha, Jagadish Kumar (28) from KR Nagar in Mysuru, and Mahesh (30) from Nepal. Police say that the families of the deceased workers have been contacted and are on their way to claim the bodies. This is the second known incident in which migrant workers, employed in manual scavenging in the city, have died. On October 25, 2013, two workers from Bihar died in the Peenya industrial area.
Media reports on Tuesday morning said that a case had been registered under Section 304A of the IPC, for death by negligence. On Tuesday morning, however, officers of the jurisdictional Electronic City police station said that even Section 9 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 had been invoked.
Police said that apart from the contractor, Umesh, who hired the three workers, the president and secretary of the association of the apartment had been booked as well. “We have arrested the contractor, we will arrest the association people too”, said an officer.
While the police may appear to be doing their job, the reality on the ground is very different.
There was excreta on their faces. I saw it myself. Only after I made a ruckus did the police invoke the Manual Scavengers Act.Narayana, President, Karnataka State Safai Karamchari Commission
Senior advocate and former Karnataka Public Prosecutor in the Karnataka High Court, B T Venkatesh said that even when training is given, it largely remains ineffective. “The ones who draft a complaint in a police station are of the rank of Sub-Inspector or the Head Constable. If training is to be given, it should be to them, and they are rarely trained.” He had made similar remarks during a training session on the POCSO Act for senior police officers of the rank of Inspector and above earlier this year.
Venkatesh added that if police officers refuse to register a complaint under Sections 3-6 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act when the workers involved are Dalits, they too are liable to be booked under the very same provisions. “Not knowing the law is no excuse,” he said, adding that this applied even to residents associations who had hired the workers.
Man and Machine
Although manual scavenging in any form in prohibited under Indian law, people continue to hire sanitation workers to clean septic tanks in private residences, and urban local bodies either direct permanent workers to descend into manholes or outsource sanitation work to private persons, who hire workers on contracts to do the same.
In the last two months alone, a total of five deaths were reported in Karnataka in separate incidents. On November 28, two workers died in Tumakuru after they were hired by a Tumakauru Mahanagara Palike contractor.
According to a report in The New Indian Express, 12 rodding machines purchased by the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board have been gathering dust for two years because they could not be transported to the areas where they were required. Each machine costs around Rs 50 lakh. Rodding machines can pass through roads, which are only around six feet wide.
Narayana says that the problem with the jetting and sucking machines, which are usually used to clean manholes is that they cannot pass through small roads, therefore making it inevitable for men to enter manholes.
Social Reservation for Dalits
According to figures available with the Karnataka State Safai Karmchari Commission, between 2008 and 2015, at least 47 people have died cleaning septic tanks or the underground sewerage lines. Often, more than one death has occurred as labourers attempt to save a fellow worker who becomes unconscious after inhaling the poisonous mix of gases in these chambers.
Narayana says that 19,000 contract labourers and 3,800 permanent employees of the BBMP are risking potential death. Extended to the whole state, this figure rises to 35,000 contract workers and 11,000 permanent employees of urban local bodies.
“Ninety percent of these workers in the state are Dalits, and belong to the Madiga caste. Only in Bidar, it is the Valmiki caste and Belagavi, it is the Balagai sub-caste of the Adi Karnataka caste,” Narayana says.
Rights and Rehabilitation
Under the Act, sanitation workers are to be given protective equipment such as gumboots, gloves, masks, soap and a disinfectant like Dettol every month. “In theory it is there, but not practically,” says Narayana. “I’ve held review meetings in each of the 30 districts since I was appointed a year ago. There are 216 municipalities, 46 city municipal councils and 11 corporations in Karnataka. Nowhere is this provided.”
While part of the Act is to provide protection to the workers, the goal is to put an end to the practice. As the head of the Safai Karamchari Commission, Narayana also monitors the implementation of the Manual Scavengers Act, which makes it mandatory for the state government to identify and rehabilitate manual scavengers.
A circular issued by the government of Karnataka directs the formation of district-level committees headed by the Deputy Commissioner to identify and rehabilitate workers. The committee includes various government officials such as the jurisdictional heads of police, social welfare department, railways, urban local bodies and civil society groups working on the issue.
Narayana however says that while in half of the state’s 30 districts, the committees have been formed, no meeting has been held until now.
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