Mumbai: Human rights body demands action over manual scavenging complaints

The National Human Rights Commission NHRC has directed the city district magistrate to act on complaints by an NGO and local residents regarding manual scavenging and the cleaning of nullahs with bare hands at Govandi In its letter the NHRC has asked the district magistrates office to submit a report on the matter along with an actiontaken report within the next four weeksIf the report is not received within the stipulated time the authority concerned would have to make a personal appearance before the commission for submission of the report The photos of labourers of both sexes unclogging drains and removing filth by getting into a manhole without protective gear or gloves at Baiganwadi near Govandi had left Mumbaikars wondering if manual scavenging continues in the cityAlso Read Mumbai Zeroesandheroes results will be fixedldquoManual scavenging is prohibited but it is still being practised across Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region We spotted manual scavengersmdashboth men and womenmdashwithout any safety gear entering and cleaning nullahs in Govandi and Chembur areas in April Labourers hired by contractors were seen manually scavenging to clean nullahs as a part of the BMCs premonsoon workrdquo said Faiyaz Alam Shaikh complainant in the matter and founder president of the NGO New Sangam Welfare SocietyAccording to Shaikh the state governmentrsquos December 2022 notification mandated that all localmunicipal bodies put a stop to the manual cleaning of septic tanks and sewage lines by switching to 100 per cent mechanisation ldquoHence manual scavenging is an illegal practice We wrote to the NHRC on April 20 highlighting the issue with photo and video evidence Now we are awaiting the district magistratersquos actionrdquo he saidResidents too have complained that the BMC still uses labourers to manually clean nullahs despite the Bombay High Court HC ordering the state government in September 2021 to ensure the ldquoinhumanrdquo and ldquoshamefulrdquo practice is stopped ldquoWe are sure the BMC is aware of the issue but continues to hire contractors who recruit labourers to do these jobs at a measly sum They are made to manually get into a big nullah and clean them with their bare hands and without any safety equipmentrdquo said a resident of GovandiLast year the President of Kamgar Saurakshan Samman Sangh KRSSS Bilal Khan filed an FIR against a showroom manager in the western suburbs for letting some labourers manually clean the drain ldquoAt the time a BMC official told us off the record that excavators and other machines are used to clean big nullahs They have the machinery for the work but contractors use manual labourers as the machines canrsquot access smaller drains or manholesrdquo Khan said adding that the BMC seems to have no options on how to follow the courtrsquos direction