Septic Tank Cleaners

The Government takes a serious cognizance of the deaths occurring due to hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and non observance of safety precautions as prescribed under the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Rules, 2013”.
State-wise details of persons who are reported to have died due to hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks during the last five and current years are at Annexure.

(d): Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has also formulated “National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem” (NAMASTE) particularly to stop deaths of Sewers and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs). NAMASTE intends formalization of system of cleaning of sewers and septic tanks operations so that only trained workers are engaged in cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and no person loses life due to hazardous cleaning.

Annexure

Year-wise and State wise details of death of persons in sewers and septic tanks during the last five years and current year.

S. No.	Name of State/UT	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
		Total No. of death	Total No. of death	Total No. of death	Total No. of death	Total No. of death	Total No. of death
	Andhra Pradesh	2	9	0	0	0	3
	Bihar	2	0	0	0	0	0
	Chhatisgarh	0	1	0	0	0	0
	Chandigarh	3	0	0	0	0	0
	Delhi	13	11	10	4	4	4
	Dadra Nagar & Haveli	0	0	0	0	3	0
	Gujarat	7	2	14	0	5	2
	Haryana	11	6	16	0	5	13
	Karnataka	3	9	7	2	5	0
	Kerala	1	0	0	0	0	0
	Maharashtra	6	5	17	4	0	12
	Madhya Pradesh	0	0	1	0	3	0
	Odisha	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Punjab	8	2	3	0	2	0
	Rajasthan	6	2	5	0	0	0
	Tamil Nadu	7	9	13	9	8	10
	Telangana	2	3	0	0	4	0
	Uttar Pradesh	17	8	28	0	4	4
	Uttarakhand	2	0	1	0	0	0
	West Bengal	10	0	2	0	4	0
	Total	100	67	117	19	49	48

 

This information was given by The Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Ramdas Athawale in the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.

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MG/DKP/MPW/RK