Just another headline

 ‘Teen and contractor cleaning septic tank killed in the city’. They died after allegedly inhaling toxic gases in the tank, which they were doing without any safety equipment. This was just another headline on the Sunday TOI front page on 27 July 2025. I did sit and ponder over it for a while, a little longer than on the other headlines, but besides that, I cannot do much. These incidents happen every now and then, are reported, pondered over and then put aside. It is the same when you use public washrooms and the person cleaning it is not adequately equipped to stay in that air, laden with stink and bacteria, nor do they have any gloves.

Manual scavenging is prohibited in India under The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, but in India, particularly in the north, this law, like many others, is ineffective to the point of being irrelevant. Plus, from what I understand, the act bans only ‘hazardous’ cleaning – as long as protective gear is provided, manual cleaning is not specifically forbidden, according to this article I read in The Hindu. It also says that ‘377 people died between 2019 and 2023 while cleaning sewers and septic tanks (according to Ramdas Athawale, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment); and in Delhi alone, more than 72 people died in sewer-related deaths between 2013 and 2024 (according to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis).’ Activists say deaths are massively under-reported; those that are reported are usually not classified as sewer deaths; sewage workers are disowned by the DJB as ‘disposable’ contractual labour for which it bears no responsibility and who are hence ineligible for compensation.

Poverty drives them to these jobs and the work is not only bad for their health, but a threat to their lives. I don’t think that many of their families get any compensation for the loss of an earning member. Every person deserves dignity of labour. Manual cleaners of sewers and septic tanks should be provided with adequate pay and safety equipment. There should be proper harnesses to pull them out immediately in case of a mishap. The people working public toilets and dumping grounds should be provided with gloves and masks, which is a bare minimum requirement. In case of an accident, they and their families should be adequately compensated.

This should not be just another headline in a newspaper. Kindly give suggestions and post if you can do something about it. Or just raise your voice for it, before brushing it off.

Pic: Credit: Safai Karamchari Andolan/The Wire