2 manual scavenging deaths went unreported this year

Two unreported manual scavenging deaths have occurred in separate incidents this year, taking the overall death toll to seven.

Unlike the three in HSR Layout on January 7 and two at HAL on February 13 — where the labourers died of asphyxiation while cleaning the STPs — the two deaths have happened due to complications of labourers working in STPs for a long time and months after being restrained from work.

Officials from the Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karmachari (KSCSK) said the impact of the poor working conditions on their health was so severe that they suffered infections and organ failure after stopping work.

“Imam Sab (a labourer) died on January 29 due to multiple health issues and infections from cleaning the STP at KR Puram, maintained by the BWSSB,” KSCSK chairman M R Venkatesh said.

When the commission members visited the East Point College of Medical Sciences in Avalahalli near KR Puram, where Imam was admitted, they saw maggots crawling over his legs that had turned black. “He had been working in STPs for the past 15 years,” Venkatesh said.

The chairman said Imam’s health issues began with itching on his legs and was complicated by diabetes and gangrene. He also charged that the employer did not provide his PF and ESI when he was hospitalised. While the minimum wage was Rs 15,000, the labourers were paid only Rs 6,000, Venkatesh added.

According to Dr Vevai, medical superintendent, East Point College of Medical Sciences, Imam was diagnosed with a chronic heart and renal disease, diabetes and abdominal swelling. But he refuted the reasoning that these medical conditions were caused by his working conditions.

Gokul Narayanaswami, KSCSK member, said Imam had a lung infection since he inhaled toxic gas in the septic tank. The commission is awaiting the medical report from the hospital.

Commission officials revealed that they have taken up the case of another manual scavenging death on February 9 at Whitefield.

Show evidence: BWSSB

BWSSB chairman Tushar Girinath said action can be taken only in the event of concrete evidence that the deaths have happened as a result of working in the septic tanks maintained by his agency.

KSCSK officials said if proven, these would be the first manualscavenging deaths occurring outside of the manhole. The 2014 Supreme Court order requires the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the family of the deceased in manualscavenging deaths.

One of Imam’s co-workers and a member of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions, who refused to be named, told DH that Imam cleaned human waste barefoot.

“He worked in the KR Puram plant for the seven years,” he said. When Venkatesh and other KSCSK members inspected the KR Puram plant in January, they witnessed workers entering the plant without protection likes shoes, gloves and masks.

The BWSSB chairman agreed that workers cannot enter the plant unprotected. “But the shocking reality is that these workers are not even provided drinking water on the site,” Venkatesh said.