Even after the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act was approved, a total of 58,098 manual scavengers have been identified across the country in two separate surveys in 2013 and 2018.
There were no deaths due to manual scavenging, but since 1993 till now about 941 workers have lost their lives while cleaning sewers or septic tanks. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar shared the data in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
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What is the current status of manual scavengers?
“There is no report of death due to manual scavenging. However, we have reports regarding the death of workers engaged in cleaning sewers or septic tanks,” he said. The data shared by the minister mentions that 941 workers lost their lives while cleaning sewers or septic tanks.
According to the data, among the states, Tamil Nadu reported the highest number of deaths at 213, followed by Gujarat at 153, Uttar Pradesh at 104, Delhi at 98, Karnataka at 84 and Haryana at 73. Manual scavenging is not allowed under the Prohibition of Employment as Prohibition of Scavenging and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
Under the Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS), the minister said a one-time cash assistance of Rs 40,000 was directly deposited into the bank accounts of all identified and eligible 58,098 manual scavengers.
About 16,057 manual scavengers and their dependents have been provided skill development training in various trades and 1,387 manual scavengers, scavengers and their dependents have been provided capital subsidy for self-employment projects including sanitation projects.
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