As the practice of manual scavenging continues to prevail, TNM examined five municipalities in the five southern states, which reported high instances of manual scavenging. Besides investigating the reasons for this prevalence, TNM also critically looked into the role of district administrations and what measures they have implemented.
The afternoon sun is beating down on Keshav as he walks back to the waste water pumping station in Kudroli in the heart of Mangaluru. His back is slightly bent and he shields his eyes from the sun with a towel. Keshav has been working for four hours and it is now 1pm, close to the time when the 50-year-old usually breaks for lunch.
Before he sits down to eat, there is a meeting with his colleagues who are huddled in a room attached to the pumping station. Keshav and his colleagues, who work as manual scavengers in Mangaluru, are seeking to change their status of contractual workers into permanent ones. "Now, pourakarmikas have also been regularised. It is time we organise ourselves and ask for our rights," says Keshav turning to his colleagues.
The Karnataka government recently agreed to regularise the services of pourakarmikas working in urban areas of the state, a decision that has not escaped the notice of manual scavengers, many of whom feel that it is time that their jobs are also changed from the part-time contractual status to permanent. Keshav Pachanady is among 56 such workers in Mangaluru, working around the clock to keep the underground drainage system in the city functioning. He has been doing this for more than 30 years. Even though manual scavenging was prohibited by the Union government in 1993, it was made a punishable offence only in 2013, following widespread protests by Dalit groups.
As per the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, anyone employing a person for manual scavenging work, whether directly or indirectly, can be jailed for upto a year, or made to pay a fine of Rs 50,000, or both.
A report by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) had found that 70 manual scavengers in Karnataka died between 2008 and 2019.
Keshav Pachanady from Mangaluru
Though incidents of manual scavenging were reported in Mangaluru in 2017 and in 2018, the introduction of jetting and sucking machines has helped limit the instances where manual interventions are necessary. "The jetting and sucking machines which came in the last five years have made our jobs easier. But there are situations when we have to manually clear the drains,” says Keshav.
The workers have 12 machines at their disposal. Out of them eight are sucking machines while the remaining four are jetting machines that can direct high-pressure jets of water to unclog drains.
"Manual work is needed when we have to unclog drains on narrow roads where the jetting and sucking machines cannot go and we have to improvise and use sticks to unclog the drains," says Rajesh Pernaje, an operator working at the Kudroli waste water pumping station. "There are also times when workers have to remove sand and waste collected at the pumping station where we have a screen to filter them out," adds Rajesh.
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Machines used in Mangaluru to clean drains
Rajesh feels that it is important for people in this line of work to be paid better and receive healthcare benefits. "Currently, workers are paid Rs 500 per day or around Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 every month," says Rajesh. "If we become permanent workers, then we will not only get more wages but also protection from ailments that we suffer now. If I go to a hospital to get treated for my back injury, then I have to let go of my day's wages," says Rajesh.
Mangaluru's underground drainage and sewage is maintained by workers subcontracted by three companies — Shaan enterprises, Sri Sai, and Gowri Shankar Sewage Movers. The worker strength varies between 28 and 10 and they have to respond to complaints throughout the day. But operating the machines is an arduous task, say workers. "It is heavy and we are lifting it every day. Complaints of back and hip problems are common because of this," says Keshav.
Manual scavengers and underground drainage workers are usually from groups in the lowest rungs of caste hierarchy. The Indian government, in 2021, stated that 97.25% of the people involved in manual scavenging, whose caste data was known, belonged to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. In Mangaluru too, most of the workers belong to Dalit communities. "It is something that young boys in Dalit communities are ordained to do from a young age. Most of the workers involved in sewage cleaning are Dalits," says SP Ananda, the district convenor of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (DSS), an organisation working for the empowerment of Dalits.
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Sticks used to clean drains in Mangaluru
Other workers, like Keshav, belong to the Koraga community, an adivasi community mainly residing in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka, and Kasargod district of Kerala. The population of this community, which speaks the unique Koraga language, has been shrinking at an alarming rate. According to Purushottama Bilimale, former head of the Kannada chair at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, the number of people in the Koraga community reduced from 55,000 in 1871 to just 16,000 this year.
Though the machines have helped improve the working conditions of sewage workers, activists point out that a number of migrant workers from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are employed for manual scavenging work by private companies in Mangaluru. "To completely eradicate this practice, we should hold private establishments like malls, shops and apartments accountable and file cases whenever people are asked to clean sewage manually," says SP Ananda.
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This research was supported by a grant from the Thakur Family Foundation. The Foundation has not exercised any editorial control over the contents of this report.