Sriperumbudur inspector Natrajan said a case under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, would be registered against the management for employing the men for the work despite the ban on it. 

Though the police have taken action including registering cases and arresting persons responsible, the continuation of the deaths was alarming, said activists. Tamil Nadu, they added, is the worst among the states in the country.

According to the figures submitted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in Lok Sabha last year, out of the 300 cases of death due to manual scavenging reported across the country, Tamil Nadu had recorded the highest number of cases, accounting for 140 fatalities. Neighbouring Karnataka came second with 59 deaths, while Utttar Pradesh registered 52 deaths. 

“It is high time the government took up a campaign making people realise that even hiring manual scavengers is a non-bailable offence, and they can be detained in prison for up to five years,” said A Narayanan, the director of Change India, who is spearheading the campaign against manual scavenging. He also noted that a list of authorised cleaning contractors should be publicised so that the public would hire only those contractors who are technically qualified to deploy all safeguards before cleaning the septic tanks.