Since May 1, in a span of 18 days, at least five persons in Tamil Nadu — four Dalit men and a Muslim man — have died from manual scavenging, a caste-based practice that has been banned in India since 1993. In recent years, Tamil Nadu has earned ill repute for consistently failing to prevent manual scavenging deaths. Between 2017 and 2022, of the 400 persons who died while cleaning sewers or septic tanks in India as per Union government figures, Tamil Nadu accounted for the second-highest number of deaths (56) after Uttar Pradesh (61). Yet, the state government has failed to curb the outlawed, inhumane practice.
The latest spate of manual scavenging deaths has once again alarmed activists and civil society, who are persuading the Tamil Nadu government to urgently intervene and enforce the ban through strict action against perpetrators who engage people for such work, awareness campaigns, adequate rehabilitation of persons involved in such work, promoting sanitation engineering education in state universities and funding research and development of machinery that can contribute to ending the practice. Here’s a look at the three incidents of manual scavenging that came to light in the last few weeks in which five persons were killed — how the offence was brazenly committed, how authorities have acted in their aftermath, and what activists suggest the government should now do to prevent any more deaths.
Govindan and Subharayalu’s deaths in Minjur
On May 1 — International Workers' Day — two Dalit men from the Paraiyar community were employed by a private contractor to clean the septic tank in Emmanuel Higher Secondary School on the outskirts of Chennai, in Tiruvallur district’s Minjur. Without providing them with any safety gear, the contractor made Govindan (45) and Subharayalu (58), who were employed as sanitation workers by the Minjur Town Panchayat, enter the septic tank. As they were cleaning the tank, the two men fell unconscious on inhaling the poisonous gas, and passed away.
Initially, the police failed to enquire about the caste background of the victims. Minjur police booked Simon C Victor, the school’s correspondent, for engaging the men in manual scavenging under provisions of The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (MS Act), and sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Later, the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) intervened and urged the police to add relevant sections of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Speaking to TNM, TNUEF member Bheeman said that after prolonged deliberations with the Minjur Town Panchayat authorities, officials released a solatium of Rs 10 lakh each to the family members of the deceased. “The state government should take action to ensure that those who lost their loved ones receive the rehabilitation and compensation guaranteed by law,” Bheeman demanded.
As per a 2014 Supreme Court judgement in the Safai Karamchari Andolan vs Union of India case, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each must be paid by state governments to the families of those who have died while cleaning sewers or septic tanks from the year 1993 onwards. Last year, the Greater Chennai Corporation increased the compensation to Rs 15 lakh, with plans to raise it by Rs 1.5 lakh every three years.
Baskaran and Ismail’s deaths in Chennai
A fortnight after the previous incident, on May 15, two men named Baskaran (52) and Ismail (36) died from asphyxiation after inhaling toxic fumes while cleaning a septic tank at a house near Puzhal in Chennai. The house owner Nirmala had employed them to clean the septic tank. Baskaran and Ismail were from the Kondiyamman Nagar neighbourhood near Puzhal.
According to the first information report (FIR) registered in the case, Baskaran's wife Vasanthi mentioned that Nirmala had previously employed her husband to clean the same septic tank a few days before his death. A week later on May 15, Nirmala called Baskaran again and allegedly asked him to remove sludge by entering the septic tank, leading to his death.
Speaking to TNM, Baskaran’s daughter-in-law Sumathi said that he had been hired to clean septic tanks and desilt wells for decades. “The first time he went to Nirmala’s house was to empty the septic tank and transport the sludge. But the second time Nirmala called him (on May 15), Baskaran was asked to clean the entire septic tank by entering it. He took cement, pipes, and other items with him,” she recalled.
The police are yet to add provisions of the SC/ST (PoA) Act in the FIR “due to miscommunication over Baskaran’s caste,” said Sumathi. Baskaran and Vasanthi are an intercaste couple — he belonged to the Paraiyar (Scheduled Caste) community while his wife is from the Naidu (Backward Class) community. “We have urged the police to book Nirmala under the SC/ST (PoA) Act,” Sumathi said.
On May 18, the Puzhal police arrested the house owner Nirmala, the owner of the sewage transporting tanker A Sahul Hameed, and the driver of the tanker D Srinivasan. They have been booked under section 304(II) (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, and section 7 (prohibition of persons from engagement or employment for hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks) and section 9 (penalty for contravention of section 7) of the MS Act.
Puzhal Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Aathimoolam told TNM that family members of the victims would receive compensation in a few days. He also said that he had asked Baskaran’s family members to bring his community certificate or other supporting documents to verify his caste background, to book the accused under the SC/ST (PoA) act as well.
Tamil Selvan’s death in Ranipet
A day after Baskaran and Ismail died, on May 16, 40-year-old Tamil Selvan too died of asphyxiation while cleaning a septic tank belonging to a private tannery unit in Ranipet district’s SIPCOT (State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu) industrial area. Tamil Selvan, who was also a Dalit man, hailed from Sadupperi village in Vellore. Seven workers including Tamil Selvan had been hired to clean the septic tank, and three of them are now undergoing treatment at the Government Taluk Hospital in Walajah town.
The Ranipet SIPCOT police have registered a case under section 304(II) of the IPC, as well as relevant sections of the MS Act and the SC/ST (PoA) Act, and a probe is currently underway. TNM tried to reach the officers of the SIPCOT police station multiple times, but they were unavailable for comment.
In another incident on May 13, three persons died of asphyxiation after venturing into a newly-constructed septic tank in a house in Kaanur in Cuddalore district’s Srimushnam in the Cuddalore district on May 13. The men had reportedly entered the tank to remove some wooden blocks kept inside. The deceased were identified as the house owner Krishnamoorthy (40), who was a carpenter, his relative Sakthivel (22), and Balachandran (32).
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The state’s failure
Speaking to TNM, Jayarani, a senior journalist who has reported on manual scavenging deaths for decades, noted that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had promised to take steps to end manual scavenging in the state after coming to power. However, in the past two years, no concrete steps have been taken to conduct awareness campaigns, strengthen the implementation of the MS Act, or promote sanitation engineering education and research to develop accessible machinery for sanitation work.
In 2017, Jayarani, who is a Dalit feminist activist and writer, wrote a play titled ‘Manjal’ about the lives of manual scavengers. It featured characters based on Bezwada Wilson and Narayanamma, activists from communities traditionally employed in manual scavenging who have done tremendous work for the welfare of sanitation workers. She alleged that state governments tend to disown their responsibilities over manual scavenging deaths, often failing to pay compensation to the family members of the deceased.
“It’s because the state governments shirk responsibility that the conviction rate for such crimes is practically zero,” Jayarani notes. While 616 cases have been registered across India under the MS Act so far against contractors who employed workers for manual scavenging without providing any safety gear, only one case has ended in a conviction, the Union government admitted to a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, as per a report from March 2023.
According to the MS Act, any person or agency that either directly or indirectly engages any person for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank could face up to two years in jail and/or a maximum fine of Rs 2 lakh, and up to five years in jail and/or maximum fine of Rs 5 lakh for any repeated violation.
According to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, a statutory body, at least 1,054 people have died between 1993 (when manual scavenging was first banned) and December 31, 2022, while cleaning sewer and septic tanks. This figure is based on information received from states and Union Territories, the media, and complaints sent to the Commission, and is likely to be an undercount.
“If the government conducts the probe properly and puts the accused behind bars as per the law, then people will get sensitised in this matter. Unfortunately, the government itself is not sensitised,” Jayarani said. She also urged the government to introduce sanitation engineering courses in academia. This has been a sustained demand by anti-caste groups in Tamil Nadu, who allege that there is a lack of political will in to bring in technological advancement in sanitation work.
“The Indian sewage systems are designed in such a way that often, the only way to clean them is for a person to enter them,” Jayarani noted, suggesting that outdated sewerage infrastructure in the country needs an overhaul. She suggests the state government could conduct workshops by bringing in experts from countries such as the Netherlands which have the best sewage systems in the world.
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Image credit: Palanikumar
A lack of alternatives
Suseendra, a researcher working in the areas of sociology and criminology, has studied manual scavenging deaths for the last six years. Seconding Jayarani’s thoughts, she explained the various factors that lead people from marginalised Dalit communities to work as manual scavengers in Tamil Nadu.
“Initially disowned by the state, sanitation workers were later brought into contract labour systems under civic bodies. But the pay in municipalities and town panchayats is very inadequate. When income through the contract labour system doesn’t allow workers to support their families’ needs, they look for better opportunities,” she said.
“But their caste background brings them back to the manhole,” Suseendra said. Alleging that society’s views on caste have remained unchallenged by the Union and state governments, she equated the government’s negligence in preventing the deaths to a ‘homicide’ of manual scavengers.
“Such deaths occur among men who are socially and economically vulnerable. The government should allocate funds to rehabilitate manual scavengers with alternative livelihood options”, Suseendra said. By the Union government’s own admission, funds spent on the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) have gone down from Rs 99.93 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 30 crore in 2020-21. In 2021-22, while the budgeted estimate was Rs 100 crore, the revised estimate was only Rs 43.31 crore, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale told the Lok Sabha on March 14 this year.
Although the Union government acknowledges that hundreds of persons have died while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks — at least 1035 since 1993 according to its own figures — it has repeatedly denied any reports of people engaged in manual scavenging or dying because of it, as defined under the MS Act.
The aftermath of manual scavenging deaths
Photographer Palanikumar, who has been documenting events following manual scavenging deaths in Tamil Nadu for seven years, said, “People think the monetary compensation and a government job provided to family members in some cases would drastically improve their living conditions. But this isn’t true. The families continue to live in the shadows of manual scavenging.”
He said that in his observation, their family members find it difficult to find alternative jobs due to their caste background, while their children are targeted and humiliated in schools, often forcing them to discontinue their education along with other socioeconomic factors. “Once they drop out of school, they often have no choice but to pick up the jobs that their father and relatives have been doing,” he said. The cycle could continue endlessly if the government fails to intervene effectively, he added.
He also notes that while public discourse around manual scavenging tends to focus only on deaths that occur inside sewers and septic tanks, the health risks from the work are wide-ranging, dangerous and often fatal. “The deaths that occur due to the side effects of doing such jobs for a long period, the mental health problems associated with the work, the lack of support to victims’ families and failed rehabilitation measures go unnoticed,” Palanikumar pointedly noted.
On Monday, May 22, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin convened a meeting with officials on preventing manual scavenging deaths. Stating that the government bears responsibility to prevent such incidents, he said, “While Tamil Nadu has progressed significantly in many social and economic sectors, it is disheartening to see workers still employed to clean septic tanks, and to witness their deaths.” He asked officials to ensure that a rehabilitation scheme for sanitation workers — the Annal Ambedkar Business Champion Scheme — is fully implemented within four months. He also spoke about the need to bring in machines for sewage cleaning works, and asked officials to formulate plans to create awareness among the public.
Earlier on May 19, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) warned private sewage truck owners against employing people to clean septic tanks.