Anadi Tewari
Last year, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment submitted in the Rajya Sabha that up to 288 persons had died in the country cleaning its sewers in the three years preceding August 2020. Experts say this number is far lesser than the actual figures. It is a shame that in 2021 this inhumane and degrading practice continues unabated in India when technological alternatives like Bandicoot exist for cleaning sewers. Further, in countries like the US and even China, if a human being has to clean sewers, she/he is provided safety gear of the highest quality which includes wearing full bodysuits. Manual scavenging in a society is usually relegated to the most marginalized groups, which is why Dalits, and in a city like Mumbai, migrant workers are overrepresented in the occupation.
Despite the BMC having a budget of around Rs. 39,000 crore, the practice of manually cleaning septic tanks and sewers is rife in Mumbai and Maharashtra. Throughout 2019 newspapers kept reporting about persons dying while cleaning septic tanks in the city.
Public Interest Litigation filed by Advocate Abha Singh, argued by Advocate Isha Singh
Alarmed by the number of deaths due to such an inhumane practice which is banned under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, Abha Singh, who is a former bureaucrat, social activist and a practising lawyer, with her daughter Isha Singh, who is also a young lawyer graduated from National Law School of India University, Bangalore, decided to file an RTI to find out the safety measures put in place by the BMC.
BMC’s RTI Reply
The BMC replied that no deaths had taken place in the department since 2014, which is patently false because:
- News reports have revealed that the BMC workers have died cleaning sewers
- BMC engages in the nefarious activity of employing subcontractors for the manual cleaning of drains and sewers so that any legal liability doesn’t fall on them. However, Section 5(1)(b) of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 makes it clear that one cannot either directly or indirectly employ manual scavengers.
Further, the BMC revealed in their RTI reply that the only protective gear given to the manual scavengers were some masks, rope etc. which is inadequate to protect vulnerable manuals scavengers, who have to inhale toxic gases present in the sewers and septic tanks. Further, the protective gear is in name only and doesn’t meet the requirements of the safety gear standards as enumerated by the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Rules, 2013.
Other Relevant Information about Sewage Worker Deaths in the State
Additional research by Abha Singh and Isha Singh revealed that the Supreme Court in the case of Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India [(2014) 11 SCC 224] has mandated that Rs. 10 lakh be awarded for every death that is caused due to cleaning of septic tanks and sewers. An RTI report in the news reveals that till date, the Maharashtra Government has not paid to a single deceased manual scavenger/sewage worker the compensation of Rs. 10 lakh, as prescribed by the Supreme Court.
The National Commission for SafaiKaramcharis, which is a non-statutory body, observes in its reports that Maharashtra has gone so far as to blatantly lie to the Commission, submitting that there are no manual scavengers in the state! The Vigilance Committees and other Committees which are required to be set up under the 2013 Act also seem to be non-functional. Employing manual scavengers is a criminal offence under the 2013 Act which makes it a non-bailable offence, but police stations rarely invoke these provisions and prefer to mask the death as an accidental death. This has resulted in zero accountability, and no convictions have been made in such cases.
Hearing of the PIL Filed
In light of this information, Advocate Abha Singh filed a Petition in her name and it was argued by Advocate Isha Singh. The first hearing took place on 17th December 2019 before a division bench of the Bombay High Court, where the opposing councils of the State of Maharashtra, BMC, Thane Municipal Corporation and Mumbai Police vociferously argued against the admission of the PIL, stating that manual scavenging was not a problem in Mumbai and Maharashtra. However, the Court issued a notice, and the next hearing was scheduled for 29th January 2020.
Following is the gist of the directions issued by the Hon’ble Court on 29th January 2020:
- Advocate Abha Singh has sought the issuance of a Writ of Mandamus to the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) and other statutory authorities directing them to furnish reports on the status of their respective compliance with the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act of 2013. She has further prayed that if the necessary committees required under the Act are not constituted, directions may be issued to constitute the same. Further, Adv. Abha Singh has also sought the framing of comprehensive preventive guidelines to prevent any hazardous manual cleaning of septic tanks.
- Appearing for the Petitioner, Advocate Isha Singh submitted a copy of FIR No. 161 of 2019 registered with Govandi Police Station, Mumbai. She submitted that despite the deaths of three sewage workers, the Police registered the FIR only under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and omitted to include Sections 7 and 9 of the PEMSR Act, 2013 which provide for imprisonment of up to five years. Adv. Isha Singh argued that in the absence of stringent guidelines from the Honourable Court, the Police were intentionally weakening the case against offenders by failing to include stringent provisions of the Act. Further, she pointed out how the Rs. 10 lakh compensation is not being awarded.
- Acknowledging the arguments of Advocate Isha Singh for the Petitioner, the Court directed her to place the said FIR on record so that action could be taken. The Court also permitted the Petitioner to file an additional affidavit pointing out how key provisions of the PEMSR Act were not being complied with.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the PIL has not come up for hearing. Even on the day, it was last listed i.e. 7th April 2021, it was unable to come up because of the matters being heard before it. All the laws for manual scavengers exist on paper only, and zero work has been done at the grassroots level by the administration.
Pauper Petition filed on behalf of the widows of the septic tank deaths that took place in Govandi
Within a week of filing the PIL regarding the deaths of sewage workers, 3 more workers died while cleaning the septic tank in Morya Housing Society, Govandi on 23rd December 2019. They had been to clean the septic tank in violation of the law and had not been provided with any safety gear.
Moved by the plight of the widows, Vimla Chorotiya (her husband was a migrant worker from Rajasthan, has to provide for three young children), Bani Debnath (her husband was a migrant worker from West Bengal, has a son, of less than 4 weeks at the time of husband’s death, and a two-year-old daughter to take care of) and Anita Kalshekar (has to provide for 2 young children), the office of Advocate Abha Singh decided to come forward and assist the widows of the deceased workers.
Apart from raising their concerns in our PIL hearing before the Bombay High Court on 29th January 2020, we approached the District Collector, Mumbai Suburban, asking him to release the compensation amount of Rs. 10 lakhs due to them as per the Supreme Court’s decision in the Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India [(2014) 11 SCC 224]. However, we received the response that the matter is awaiting consideration from the higher-ups and till date nothing has been done by the Collector’s office.
We then filed a Pauper Petition before the Bombay High Court as the widows are indigent persons who cannot afford to pay the Court fees that are required when one files a case for compensation. However, it remains stuck in the Bombay High Court’s registry, as objection after the objection is brought to the fore every single time. The anomaly in the law is laughable. You give a poor person the right to compensation, but then you demand court fees which no poor person can dream of paying. The procedure to waive the court fees is so complicated, how can one even expect the poor, who have such few resources at their disposal, to enforce their rights?
Nonetheless, we have persevered and hopefully, the matter will come on board soon, in spite of the lockdown, which has resulted in immense delay in the matter and caused undue hardship and suffering to the widows.
Throughout the lockdown, we have provided some assistance to the widows, as has senior journalist Olga Tellis and the Rotary Club of Mumbai Elegant. Thus, civil society has been of greater help to the widows of deceased manual scavengers than the State and the Judiciary.
Click Here To Download The PIL Filed
Interview of Widows of Manual Scavengers
Article reported by the Mumbai mirror on the deaths of Govandi Workers due to Manual Scavenging