Manual scavenging is constitutionally banned under The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prevention) Act. Close to two decades have passed since this Act was passed in 1993, but manual scavenging is still ingrained in the lives of the urban poor in Chennai. Repeated protests by NGOs and civil society have not been able to eradicate this deplorable practice. Why has the government not taken necessary steps to rehabilitate the lives of manual scavengers? Why does a person still have to go 5 feet into the drain to manually clean human faeces? What happened to the promises of full mechanization? None of these questions fetch any answers from city managers.

An interview with Mr. R Anbuvendhan, President of the Sanitary Worker’s Union, shed light on inconsistencies inherent in government policies and practice. According to Anbuvendhan, 9727 sanitary workers were sanctioned by the government in 1996 to work in Chennai. Of these, only 3750 are currently working with the Corporation of Chennai. “Nobody knows what happened to the rest of the employees. While some retired in normal course, many have suspiciously disappeared from the attendance registers and government payroles”, said Mr. Anbuvendhan.

The sanitary workers department is under staffed and incapable of handling the load of work entrusted to them by the Corporation. Chennai’s boundaries have expanded since 1996 to include a number of municipalities. The population has increased from 4 million in 2001 to 4.7 million as per the recent Census. However, these are not accounted for when the government calculates the number of sanitary workers to be employed by the department. As per Central government norms, not less than 2.75 sanitary workers should be assigned to a population of 1000. Currently, each employee takes care of more than 1300 residents. “Unofficial corruption and bonded labour is inherent in the bureaucracy”, says Anbuvendhan. Out of all the processes, only the attendance records of sanitation workers have been computerized. “Attendance is taken at least thrice during the day and even one time absence leads to salary cuts”, he said.

Source: Hindu, File Photo

Nearly all workers are in their mid forties and fifties, and suffer from work induced ailments like cancer, tuberculosis, asthma and other respiratory diseases. However, the medical claims offered to sanitary workers do not cover these diseases. “More than 65 per cent of the sanitary workers are women and their rights and needs should be protected. Families of sanitary workers do not even get adequately compensated when they die during service. Metro Water, a parastatal agency, privately hires workers to manually clean the sewers. When workers die inside these sewers, they are entitled to zero compensation by the agency”, he said.

The Sanitary Workers Union was formed in 2004 to protect the rights of the sanitary workers and help rehabilitation. Have things changed since then? “Not much has changed, but workers are more aware and empowered to fight for their rights now. They no longer fear to exercise their freedom of speech”, said Anbuvendhan who hopes to completely rehabilitate the lives of manual scavengers in the city some day.

Transparent Chennai will be going on a city tour this week to check the conditions in which manual scavengers operate in the city. Transparent Chennai will also be a part of the weekly union meetings to interact with workers. If you are interested in talking about this issue, write to somya.sethuraman@ifmr.ac.in

All views expressed here are based on newspaper clippings and interviews.

Somya Sethuraman

Today’s Hindu has two very interesting stories that I felt were worth sharing with our readers. You might have already seen and read it but I am not sure if you had an afterthought. I obviously had one, so penning it down for all of you to read. The second and third page of Hindu which tell you stories about our very own Chennai City have two very contrasting pieces of news today: naturally, one good and the other bad.

Let’s first talk about the good news. Apparently, Metrowater, in an effort to ensure equitable distribution, has increased water supply to north Chennai, which is considered to be (a lot more) poorer than south Chennai. This increase is said to benefit the so called “orphaned” areas of north Chennai including Sowcarpet, Pulianthope and Basin Bridge. The report says that though the quantum of water supply was almost the same in some zones, population density led to unequal distribution. Makes sense. But isn’t it surprising to know that Metrowater, a parastatal agency which is responsible for supplying water to the entire city required a special survey to highlight such disparities? Worse, residents feel that this increase in supply will not bring any major relief to them because their areas often receive contaminated water. Will we now need another survey of quality of water in these areas to make effective and timely policy decisions? Anyhow, I would still consider this announcement as positive and much needed: better late than never is what they say.

Scene: Residents of Ayanavaram, North Chennai, washing clothes in a common area outside Corporation toilet

What’s the bad news? Chennai District, which has always had one of the the lowest school dropout rates when compared with other districts in TN as well as districts in all other states, has reported 3283 children in the age group of 5-16 years to have dropped out of school. According to a recent study done by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan:
- Male children constitute a major chunk of this number – now this is contrary to common belief that drop out rates are higher for girls than boys
- Majority pointed to lack of interest in going to school as reason for dropping out. Other reasons were child labor, lack of guidance, poverty, natural calamity etc.
- Majority drop outs are from backward classes and communities
- Again, north Chennai had relatively higher concentration of these dropouts.

Do we need to revamp our education system? Shouldn’t policies and programmes be inclusive and pro poor? How is it that north Chennai’s residents have to bear the brunt of it all – be it education or basic human needs and necessities like food, water, shelter and sanitation? We do keep writing and talking about it, but when will the issue escalate to an extent where it translates to some meaningful action? Probably more announcements in the near future like the one Metrowater has made today, along with effective implementation of these will bring some quick relief to deprived areas.

- Somya Sethuraman

I came across this article in Times of India today:

Sewage system improvement at Rs 42 crore

CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has prepared a blueprint to improve the sewage system in the city at the cost of Rs 42 crore. An announcement to this effect was made on Wednesday by CMWSSB managing director Rajesh Lakhoni during a high-level meeting… Read more here

What was particularly interesting about this article was a comment by Devi, a CPM councillor: “The sewer lines were laid decades ago and there is neither improvement nor modernisation, resulting in clogged sewers. Public health is at risk due to contamination of drinking water”

Transparent Chennai is conducting a survey, a pilot project, to asses the quality of public toilets in Chennai. In many of the toilets that we visited, users of toilets complained of clogged sewers as a frequent problem. Caretakers in some of the locations had locked up latrines and toilet compounds because of blocked underground drainage.

While this piece in ToI comes as a pleasant development, the question is : Will we succeed in utilizing these funds to create a sustainable solution? What do you feel? Please write to us.

- Somya Sethuraman