Enforcing Manual Scavenging Law

What is the issue?

• There were instances of death while cleaning septic tanks, in Delhi and Odisha, recently.
• This calls for addressing the shortfalls in implementation of the manual scavenging law.

What does the law mandate?

• Manual scavenging is regulated by the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
• Under this, no person, local authority or agency should engage or employ people for hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
• Mechanised cleaning of septic tanks is the prescribed norm.
• Safety gear for rare instances when human intervention is unavoidable is prescribed.
• A violation can be punished with two years of imprisonment or fine or both.
• It also prohibits the construction of insanitary latrines.
• Each occupier of insanitary latrines shall be responsible for converting or demolishing the latrine at his/her own cost.
• The District Magistrate and the local authority shall be the implementing authorities.

What are the policy shortfalls?

• The workers in Delhi were asked to perform the task in violation of the manual scavenging Act.
• Apparently, many requirements of worker safety provided in the law are often ignored.
• A well-funded programme as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) pays little attention to this aspect of sanitation.
• More tanks are being built in rural and urban areas as part of the drive to construct toilets.
• But manual scavenging law is not being enforced, and there is no fear of penalties.
• Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had itself acknowledged that in rural areas, mechanical pumps to clear septic tanks are not available.
• In the southern States, sanitation has expanded along with urbanisation.
• But it has brought with it a higher number of deaths as workers clean septic tanks manually.
• E.g. Tamil Nadu recorded 144 fatalities of workers engaged for septic tank cleaning in the past three years.

What is to be done?

• Mere assertion by the Centre that it was pressing State governments to prosecute violators is ineffective.
• There is a need for political will and social pressure to avoid any further deaths.
• If the law on manual scavenging is to be effective, the penalties must be uniformly and visibly enforced.
• It is equally important for State governments to address the lack of adequate machinery to clean septic tanks.
• Toilet designs proposed by the government include those in which fully composted waste must be removed from pits every two years.

• The Centre must ensure that this does not become an avenue to oppress members of some communities, reflecting social inequalities.
• The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should make expansion of the sewer network a top priority.
• It should come up with a scheme for scientific maintenance that will end manual cleaning of septic tanks.

Source: The Hindu