Alka Verma-
Published on : September 10, 2021 at 15:35 IST
On 9 September, Madras High Court stated that the heads of Corporations and Municipalities will be liable if any incident of manual scavenging takes place under their jurisdiction.
The Court also directed the Civic Chiefs to file a written undertaking stating that no work of manual scavenging will take place under their respective jurisdiction.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu stated,“All Commissioners of Municipal Corporations across the State and heads of the Municipalities should file written undertakings to the effect that no manual scavenging work would be permitted to be undertaken within the relevant corporations or municipality areas.”
Further, while giving the orders they also directed, “So as not to compromise public interest, the State should endeavor to obtain appropriate machines or improve sewer lines to ensure that no manual scavenging is necessary anywhere in the State.”
Earlier a submission was made by Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in Lok Sabha regarding the same issue.
According to the submission, 43 people died in Tamil Nadu while cleaning sewers in last 5 years.
Two survey by Central Government in 2013 and 2018 also revealed that 58,098 people were involved in manual scavenging
The same survey showed that Uttar Pradesh has highest number of manual scavenging case followed by Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Assam.
Meanwhile Centre also assured that the guidelines of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is being maintained.
Also read : Delhi HC issues notice on strict compliance of Manual Scavenging Law