yesterday was when our common drains leaked like its a miniature black river, spoiling our day altogether... in the evening, the khaki-clad guy was called in... he came in with a nice smile on his face, chit chatted with his co-worker for a while and after changing into bare minimum, he got into work... yes, sewerage work...
Sewerage Work
“It is a familiar sight for residents: A frail man, drenched in raw sewage, looking out from a manhole. He dives into the sewer, scoops a bucketful of the dirt, comes out and hands it over to a co-worker before plunging again. the worker repeats this inhuman operation several times and yet manages to survive the hazards.there are several unfortunate men who have lost their lives while making a livelihood by cleaning the city’s sewers with a network of about 3,000 km length.
The underground sewers of Chennai have become death traps for workers and little seems to have been done to prevent the loss of innocent lives. Last year, 30-year-old Ramesh choked to death when he stepped into a Metro water sewer at Pulianthope. On another day, Shanmugham (47) met with a similar fate at Purasawalkam. On both occasions, firemen reached the spot after the workers died.
interestingly, Karnataka was the first state to ban the practice as early as the 1970s, but the practice continues there to this day. There are about 10,000 to 15,000 manual scavengers clearing away the human shit in the Hi-Tech capital of India, Bangalore, also known as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, the state capital of Karnataka.They lived in segregated housing with minimal amenities.
Banning manual scavenging did not stop the exploitation of Dalits. Exploitation has taken on a new form over many decades and it is purely the cities that have built underground sewerage systems. The workers, all men, are assigned to carry out the maintenance of sewers and also to unclog them—a normal procedure in many countries one might think. But what makes it horrific in the Indian context is that the work is carried out under vile conditions—the worker, without any protective gear, dives into the raw sewage through a narrow manhole and cleans the sewer manually. The work is even more hazardous than the manual scavenging that the women do, as the worker is immersed completely in raw sewage. In India, industrial waste is also directly mixed with domestic sewage exposing workers not only to biological hazards but also to dangerous chemicals.
Ironically instead of improving the work conditions or investing in machinery and protective equipment the municipalities have started to subcontract the sewerage cleaning jobs to private contractors so that they escape prime responsibility. This has resulted in even lower wages and absolutely no security for them. a Dalit dying in the sewers is a non-event. With so little wages and no benefits it is hard to understand how any Dalit can get any sort of education for their children to make use of the wonderful reservations (quotas) that the government has promised; it seems the only reservation they have 100 percent is to work in filthy sewers.
an NGO study found the presence of toxic chemicals like chlorides, hydrochlorides, sulphates, nitrates, and even metals like mercury, lead, and chromium. they found about 680 ailments among them.
According to the The National Geographic report, more than 100 workers die every year in sewer ‘accidents’ due to inhalation of toxic gases (methane etc.) or drowning in excrement. No official data are available about the number of workers who are killed cleaning the sewers; estimates based on newspaper reports give a rough figure of well over 1,000 a year across India.
“Rainy seasons are worst when the sewers get flooded. The manholes have a small circumference and we have to dive without any rope attached and at times it is difficult to find the way back due to the dark waters. Many of our colleagues have perished and we might also die but this is the only livelihood we have. No one here lives to old age, if one does not die in an accident, a disease kills him,” one worker reported to the PRIA researcher.
Some of the preliminary findings from the The Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), another NGO's study: • Few workers in age group 50-59; most die before retirement• 35 percent literacy• Monthly wage for daily wagers Rs 2,950 ($67)• More than 40 percent of workers are not permanent though more than 90 percent of them have been working for more than five years continuously• 60 percent of workers enter manholes more than 10 times a month• Acute illnesses: eye irritation, upper respiratory tract irritation , difficulty in breathing, skin rash , cut and injury . Chronic illnesses: fatigue, watering/burning of eyes, cough , skin irritation , skin roughness , skin rash , lower backache • Little awareness about hazards at work;• No knowledge about protective gear except safety belts • 35 percent immunised against tetanus; no immunisation for hepatitis B or typhoid fever
what can we do about it?
the questions which raise in our minds after reading this ... :
1: what will i do when i encounter a person in my neighborhood, my apartments who does sewerage cleaning work?
2: what do you think we can possibly do to end such practices?
3: when there are machines available now in India to do even menial jobs, why not machines eliminate them altogether? and if you are an engineer, what can you do towards making such machines?
4: how much will you pay him? do you think paying him a little more can really undo the harm that happens to his body? 100? 200? a thousand rupees??
5: what awareness can we create in the people ? what kind of medical care and precautionary seminars can we ourselves do towards such people?
6:lastly, would you care to give him a cup of coffee in your favourite mug after he cleans himself after he is done with cleaning your bowel products?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Narendra Modi has written in his recent book that someone would ve got enlightened while scavenging. Thats why he believes some people are condemned to scavenge. I m sorry. This is absolute bullocks.
If scavenging is no more considered a mean exercise and if the officials provide people who do this with good protection gears that makes sure that they stay healthy and dont fall sick, that sounds acceptable. In india the prob is colonial + medieval hangover I believe. The caste system is responsible for this inhuman practise that is still extant in our society.
Post a Comment