Mangalore, November 16: The Dakshina Kannada district unit of Karnataka Dalit Sangharsh Samiti on Wednesday staged a demonstration in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner to exert pressure on the government to strictly implement the ban on manual scavenging across the state and also to implement the recommendations of the I P D Salappa Committee report on improvement of living and working conditions of sweepers and scavengers.
The protest comes in the wake of the recent deaths of manual scavengers in Kolar Gold Fields and Kinnigoli. While KGF witnessed several deaths over the past one year due to illness contracted from manual scavenging, a 45-year old Dalit worker Kitta Koraga had died of suffocation after falling into a septic tank of a hotel in Kinnigoli near Mulky while cleaning it on November 6.
The protesters demanded the resignation of the Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar for his failure to put an end to the manual scavenging, which claimed the lives of Dalit workers.
The agitators held the Minister responsible for the above deaths and for the plight of about 1,000 families that eke out a living by cleaning the dry latrines of KGF.
“If he failed to resign owning moral responsibility for the death of manual scavengers, the governor must intervene and take necessary measures to sack him”, they said.
The protesters also exhorted the government to provide better facilities to the 'paura-karmikas' and take stringent action against those who force helpless workers to do manual scavenging.
“We want justice for the death of Kitta Koraga, who lost his life because of the lack of safety measures on part of the hotel owner”, said one of the protesters.
“The state government and district administration must take into account the plight of Dalits who undertake cleaning work in different areas”, he said.
“In the year 1978 then Minister for Municipal Administration B Basavalingappa had strived hard to find a resolution to the problems of civic workers by imposing ban on manual scavenging. However, the practice of manual scavenging is still rampant in the state despite the ban”, said another protester. The recent examples for this inhuman practice are the incidents came to light in Kinnigoli and KGF, he added.
The protesters also demanded the government to treat the civic workers with respect and provide all basic facilities for them. The civic workers deserve free houses, healthcare service and free education and employment assurance for their children, they said.
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