The state government has failed to conduct a resurvey of manual scavengers as ordered by the ministry of social justice and empowerment in February in six districts, including Chennai. The ministry issued the order following the continuing deaths of manual scavengers and it was found that the victims were not part of the list prepared during the earlier survey.
According to the government survey conducted in 2015, only 426 workers were indulged in manual scavenging in the state. But as per a survey conducted by Safai Karamachari Andolan, an NGO, during the same period in just 8 cities in
Tamil Nadu, there were nearly 3,023 manual scavengers.
Though the resurvey was supposed to be conducted in six districts, the state government seems to have opted for conducting the survey in very few pockets of these cities. A mandatory element of the survey is to give wide publicity about the date and venue of the resurvey so that manual scavengers could come forward and enroll themselves in the list.
But in Coimbatore, apart from Zamin Uthukuli and Thondamuthur, advertisements and publicity were not done in any other town panchayat despite the dates for camps being fixed on March 21 and 22. In Pollachi, the workers who came to be enrolled as manual scavengers were sent away by the officials. In
Tiruvallur, only 75 people came forward to enroll. Arumugham, an activist said, “Officials have threatened workers not to come forward,” he said.
State convener of Safai Karamchari Andolan D V
Samuel said, “District-wise four camps should be held. But in Tamil Nadu they are neither advertising nor publicizing. They started the survey in Trichy, Coimbatore and Tiruvallur since March 16 but nobody is even aware about it. Not more than 30 members have come and enrolled themselves, so far. This survey is for rehabilitation as each scavenger will get Rs 40,000 cash, residential, education and health support from the government. If there is no publicity, how will people know,” he said.
Among the southern states, the survey has been completed in Kerala alone where publicity was done, said activists. In Karnataka, owing to elections, it has not been held.
Coimbatore district president of Safai Karamachari Andolan Muruganandham said in Coimbatore, the collector had declared that there were no manual scavengers but even last year four people died. “The government and the politicians’ lack of will have resulted in several deaths over the years,” he said.
The camp was held in 37 town panchayats in Coimbatore district and two workers from
Vettaikaranpudur had enrolled countering the district collector’s claim that there are no manual scavengers in the district.
R K
Gupta, deputy manager of National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation, which is financing this survey, said that he will take action based on complaints. “The first survey was conducted in 2013 that went on till 2015. This resurvey is being called because we got a lot of complaints that many people were not included. Also, the definition was not understood. But all types of people who clean latrines should be included. We anticipated a higher number but we got a lower number. We hope more people are added after this resurvey,” he said.
But he clarified that those cleaning sewers will not be added but those engaged in cleaning of dry latrines, cleaning of open drains in which human excreta is flushed from insanitary latrines and manual cleaning of single pits attached to toilets will be included. “In the next phase, we will add the drain cleaners as well,” he said.
Senior officials in the state government said that the survey was being conducted as per guidelines.
Representative image
