INDIA: Two manual scavengers killed while working without any equipment in Gujarat

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Navsarjan, a human rights organisation working on Dalit rights in Gujarat about the death of two manual scavengers. It is reported that the deceased were employed by a Municipal Corporation in Gujarat. The two victims died inside manhole at about 10:30 pm, two hours after they were asked to work on an emergency on 26 May 2008. It is also reported that the manual scavengers employed by this Municipal Corporation were forced to work without safety equipments such as a face and breath protection mask, gloves or appropriate dress that insulates these persons from hazardous materials.

CASE DETAILS:

Mr. Nagin Ranchod Solanki (aged 40 years) and Mr. Harish Magan Solanki (aged 49 years) are manual scavengers employed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation. At 8:00pm on 26 May 2008, Nagin and Harish were asked to block the main sewer pipe connected to a manhole, to assist repairing a valve. Around 10:30pm, both of them were found dead in the manhole at the Kalaghoda sewage pumping station. (photo 1: 30 feet-deep manhole of Kalaghoda sewage pumping station) (photo 2: inside manhole in which two victims died) The death was apparently from suffocation.

The deceased had worked as sanitary labourers for the Vadodara Municipal Corporation for years. Nagin has been employed for 14 years and Harish for about 25 years. However, the Municipal Corporation authority has never provided equipments for labourers. All the sanitary labourers including the deceased two victims belong to Valmilki community (Dalit, Scheduled Caste) whose job has been given by the caste in generations in India.

According to the victims’ families, the victims were paid INR 5,000 (USD 116) per month. They were employed as regular labourers and mainly worked inside manholes and sewer pipes. Even though they were engaged in manual scavenging, they were appointed as ‘sanitary workers’. They regularly worked from 8am to 4pm and were asked to work on emergencies once or twice a month. Accepting emergency calls is compulsory to all sanitary labourers and they were not paid anything extra for this. On the day of the incident, the victims worked as usual and had to work at night attending to the emergency. The victims climbed down about 30 feet into the manhole without wearing any protective equipment. In fact they were scantily dressed and had removed their dress before entering the manhole. (photo 3: victim’s clothes on his bicycle beside the manhole)

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation lodged a complaint against the Additional Assistant Engineer Mr. P.M. Patel at the Sayanj Ganj police station. The First Information Report (FIR, No. I 103/08) was registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860 under Section 304 (A) (whoever cause the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both). On 29 May 2008, the accused was arrested and the Police Inspector of Sayanj Ganj police station is investigating the case.

It is reported that on the next day of the incident, the Mayor of Vadodara Municipal Corporation Mr. Sunil Solanki visited victims’ families to give INR 300,000 (USD 6,989) as an immediate compensation. The Mayor also offered employment to one person each from both families in the Corporation for a job not requiring them to do any manual scavenging. According to the Navsarjan who met the Mayor, the Mayor also plans to arrange for an independent investigation into the case possibly headed by the District Deputy Commissioner.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The death of the two victims in this case is not caused by an accident or a momentary mistake of the officials. It is more the result of the Hindu caste system that forcibly imposes inhuman and menial jobs like manual scavenging upon Dalit communities like the Valmikis from birth. In fact manual scavenging of dry latrines and sewers indicates that the government actually promotes the caste based discrimination. Manual scavenging is prohibited under the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Constitution of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993.

According to Navsarjan, an organisation that has been working for the eradication of manual scavenging since 1995, it is estimated that about 64,000 manual scavengers are still employed in Gujarat state alone. In Vadodara Municipal Corporation, there are 50 sewer pumping stations in which 200 scavengers are employed. It is reported that even before this incident, nine sanitary labourers had died recently while working under the similar conditions in Vadodara district.

In another case, Mr. Gopal Bababhai Makwana (aged 32 years) died after returning from work at night on 3 August 2007. Gopal was also Valmiki employed as a manual scavenger by the Viramgam municipality in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat. He was also forced to work at night around from 9:30pm to 2am, which was his second shift within a 24-hour period. The decedent victim was not provided any protective equipment for cleaning garbage out of the street gutter and it had rained heavily earlier that day.

After Gopal’s death, the Viramgam municipality denied responsibility for the victim’s death since a doctor was unable to find the cause of death. It is reported that the sanitary workers was threatened to be fired by the authorities when they tried to protest against working at night. Moreover, Gopal was refused any relief and was told that he would not receive wage for the day since he got sick while at work. Unfortunately Gopal died on the same day.

The Gopal’s family received compensation from the municipality and his widow (aged 26 years) was employed as a sanitary labourer by the municipality replacing Gopal. Gopal’s widow had no other choice but to accept the work offered by the municipality. She works eight hours a day and is paid INR 2,500 (USD 58) per month, which is much less than a regular labourer’s income. She has to bring her own work instruments to clean the street and the gutter since the municipality does not provide it. (photo 4: victim’s widow cleaning the street with her own cleaning instruments)

The local governments merely provide some ad-hoc compensation and alternate employment in lieu of the death of a manual scavenger. No steps whatsoever have been taken so far to improve their working conditions. Meanwhile, it is reported that the local government content that the manual scavengers should be responsible for their own security since the sanitary labouers refused to use the gears provide by the local government. These equipments are reportedly not suitable for the work and injure the workers.

Most of the sanitary workers in Gujarat are from the Valmiki community–traditionally scavenging community in the caste system. The decedent Mr. Harish Magan Solanki’s family live in a slum in Vadodara district, from where about 400 other persons work as sanitary workers including regular or irregular workers on a full-time or part-time basis. (photo 5. The victim Mr. Harish’s family member in front of house) (photo 6. Overview of Valmiki community living in slum)

The Valmiki community finds it difficult to get a regular work other than sanitary work which illuminates the fact that the Valmiki community in particular is the most vulnerable community even among the Dalits. They are socially and economically dominated by the caste system. Further, the local government has contributed to maintain this caste based social order even in government sector.

ADDTIONAL COMMENTS:

Despite this forced and hazardous working conditions of the Dalits, exposing them to various diseases that often result in death, the police do not mention the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (SC/ST Act), section 3(1)(vi) (whoever, not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, compels or entices a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to do ‘begar’ or other similar forms of forced or bonded labour other than any compulsory service for public purposes imposed by Government shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and with fine) and 3(2)(vii) (whoever, not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, being a public servant, commits any offence under this section, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which extend to the punishment provided for that offence) when registering cases of deaths of manual scavengers. In this case too this is the situation.

Moreover, the duty of the government officials to follow the SC/ST Act by virtue of section 4 of the SC/ST Act (whoever, being a public servant but not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, willfully neglects his duties required to be performed by him under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year) is often ignored or intentionally overlooked by the police and other law enforcing agencies in India.

The omission of these relevant provisions of the SC/ST Act against the government officials not only minimises the gravity of the crime but provides impunity to these officers. This renders the law ineffective in practice, though it is quite strong in theory.

Additionally the High Court of Gujarat in an order issued in February 2006 has directed that the employers have to provide sewerage workers with all the safety measures to safely discharge their work. Article 21 of the Constitution of India, that ensures the right to life including right to live with human dignity, right to have healthy environment, right to have protection against hazard of the employment, right to food and the right to health. The High Court also prohibits sanitary labourers from working inside the manholes and has directed that unless it is absolutely necessary to have sewage cleaning operation done through employing a human, none of the civic bodies in the state should employ humans to carry out drainage cleaning operation.

However, as this case illustrates, the local government allows the sanitary labourers to work inside the manhole and even forces them to work without any protective gear, which violates the law laid down by the court which the authorities in Gujarat are bound to follow. Even though such works are carried out in board day light in full public view, the Court that prohibited such work has failed to take any action to prevent the open flouting of its own orders. This speaks volumes about the court’s interest in insisting compliance of its own orders. Such attitude is not unique to the Gujarat High Court. Even the Supreme Court of India that has issued several similar orders in other cases of public interest has failed thus far to insist compliance of its orders.

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