Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) Managing Director M. Dana Kishore has sought the support of Bezawada Wilson, president, National Commission for Safai Karmachari Andolan for a large scale awareness campaign to eliminate human labour in cleaning manholes and sewer lines.
Interacting with the Ramon Magsaysay award winner when he visited the Water Board office on Wednesday, Mr. Kishore said that despite the efforts to eliminate human labour, many contractors and households were privately engaging labour in cleaning manholes and sewer lines without the necessary equipment or expertise leading to injuries and deaths. He also requested Mr. Wilson to plan for a campaign against manual scavenging by convening a workshop to the civil society organizations, social activists and human rights activists. A workshop for the Water Board employees too on elimination of manual operations in manholes was necessary to sensitise them. Citizen Charts, monitoring committees, committees on social awareness etc., would be involved in the campaigning to enable to reach the message at the grass root level, offered, according to a press release.
