Mangalore's shame: manual scavenging continues unabated

Mangalore, August 2: Despite the manual scavenging being declared unlawful, yet another incident of a worker cleaning the sewage tank on CG Kamath Road in the city was reported on Wednesday.

Sundara K, 35, a resident of Kodical, was seen clearing a block in the chamber leading to underground drainage network by drenching himself in the night soil.

Sundara, who was an employee of the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC), had lost his job. He said that he agreed to take up the work for money.

"I told the residents that I can clear the blocked chamber. I get an average of Rs1,000 by clearing UGD blocks, so I started working individually. But, I get work only once in a week," he said.

Residents in the area complained that the toilets of 14 houses in the area were clogged due to a block in the chamber since last one week.

"The corporation authorities did not respond to our complaints, even though the issue was brought to the notice of the local corporator. Many of us had called our corporator, and a team of officials and workers had checked the spot too. However, they refused to solve the problem citing a technical reason that clearing blocks in UGD chambers does not come under their purview. Tell us what should we do if toilets in 14 houses are blocked for about one week?" questioned Jaykar Stevens, one of the residents.

Meanwhile, joint commissioner Srikanth Rao, who arrived at the spot, said they have not received any complaints from the residents. "We will make arrangements to solve the problems of the residents," he said.

Ganesh, assistant executive engineer, has filed a complaint to Mangalore East police station regarding the incident.

Manual scavenging is a violation under the provisions of Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993.