The Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) staged a protest in Chennai on Monday, March 27, demanding that the state government introduce a sanitation engineering course in Anna University. The public university, considered to be one of the best institutions for engineering education in Tamil Nadu, falls under the purview of the state government. TNUEF said that a sanitation engineering course would help promote research and development of machinery that can contribute to ending the banned practice of manual scavenging.
Tamil Nadu is infamous for consistently recording a high number of manual scavenging deaths in recent years. Activists who participated in the protest highlighted data from a report compiled by Safai Karmachari Andolan, which found that 989 individuals have died due to manual scavenging in India between 1993 and 2022, with Tamil Nadu recording 218 deaths. According to the Union government, between 2017 and 2022, at least 400 persons died while cleaning sewers or septic tanks in India, with Tamil Nadu accounting for the second-highest number of deaths (56) after Uttar Pradesh (61).
Speaking to TNM during the protest, general secretary of TNUEF Samuel Raj said, “Machines for sanitation work should be made widely available in shops, with simple technology that is accessible to everyone. That will stop people from employing sanitation workers for even small problems like a clogged kitchen sink.”
Activists who participated in the protest said that there was a lack of political will to bring in technological advancement in sanitation work. They said that the official apathy was rooted in the casteist practice of forcing lowered caste persons predominantly from Dalit communities to do manual scavenging work.
Last year, a startup called Solinas Integrity — incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) — announced that it had developed a septic tank-cleaning robot named HomoSEP, and other robotic devices which could end manual scavenging. The startup recently appeared on the second season of Shark Tank India, where it landed an investment of Rs 90 lakh in exchange for 3% equity.
Speaking to TNM about the sanitation engineering projects at IIT Madras, which falls under the purview of the Union government, Samuel Raj said, “Those machines are not being put to use properly. If you ask the administration at IIT Madras, they say that only the development of the devices is in their hands, and that it is up to the government to deploy them. The project at IIT Madras involves a few former students and a professor. Our demand is for a separate department for sanitation engineering in higher education. In countries across the world, universities already have such departments. If there is a dedicated department, the machinery will be put to use regularly revealing any design flaws, and new and better advancements can be made continuously.”
Tamil Nadu state coordinator of Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) D Samuel emphasised during the protest that deploying machinery alone would not end deaths due to manual scavenging. Referring to the introduction of cleaning devices in Kumbakonam and Coimbatore city municipal corporations, D Samuel said, “Deaths have occurred regardless of the machines in both places. When SKA approached the concerned district Collectors along with the victims’ families, we were told that the authorities were not responsible, and that it is the fault of third-party contractors. But who is engaging the services of these contractors?” The activist also alleged that municipal authorities often intimidate workers into signing self-declaration forms falsely stating they are not engaged in manual scavenging work, as the practice is banned under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
Other demands put forward at the protest were directed at both the Union government and the Tamil Nadu government. TNUEF demanded that the state government take stock of the machinery developed at IIT Madras so far, and immediately deploy them across the state. Further, the organisation demanded that the state government import any additional machinery required.
D Samuel of SKA said, “Over the last five years, Tamil Nadu has witnessed at least 105 deaths due to manual scavenging. We must also remember that there is an even larger number of persons injured while doing manual scavenging work. Many of them have lost their vision, or had their teeth fall out, or are confined to bed due to their injuries, making their families’ lives precarious.”
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Vanni Arasu alleged that the government had failed to accurately record manual scavenging deaths. Despite acknowledging that hundreds of persons have died while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, the Union government has repeatedly claimed that there are no reports of people engaged in manual scavenging or dying because of it, as defined under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act.
Vanni Arasu also alleged police negligence while investigating manual scavenging-related cases. He said that often, police officers fail to include provisions of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act while registering the FIR in manual scavenging cases. Attributing this to a lack of awareness among police officers, he said, “If you insist on including the SC/ST (PoA) Act, they tend to ask if someone used casteist slurs against the victim. They incorrectly claim that the victims took up the manual scavenging work voluntarily and therefore, the SC/ST (PoA) Act cannot be invoked.” He also noted that the compensation owed to victims’ families is often delayed and even denied in some cases.