Delhi: Safai Kamgar Union stages protest over 3 deaths in septic tank

New Delhi, June 27 (IANS) In the wake of the death of three workers in a septic tank in West Delhi, the Safai Kamgar Union (SKU) staged a protest and demanded safety audits at all workplaces, a Union representative said on Saturday.

The Union also demanded compensation of Rs 50 lakh to each deceased worker's family and a government job for one family member, the statement said.

The SKU protest was against the death of three sanitation workers in Mundka in West Delhi.

The protest was organised under the SKU banner by sanitation workers from various workplaces, including Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW), and Delhi University (DU).

The SKUs condemned the authorities’ negligence and said that despite numerous rules and laws, the governments have failed to prevent the deaths of sanitation workers in sewers and septic tanks.

“This is not an isolated incident, as every year, many sanitation workers die while cleaning sewers and septic tanks. This practice, which is outlawed, still exists even 75 years after India’s Independence,” said the SKU statement.

Behind this criminal neglect to ensure the safety of sanitation workers lie the entrenched caste biases and class hierarchies in society, where the sanitation workers, the majority of whom belong to the Dalit community and live in precarious conditions, find themselves facing the brunt of the government's apathy, it said.

Contributing to this neglect is the policy of recruiting sanitation staff on a contractual basis across institutions, it said.

The dehumanising practice of manual scavenging continues despite the prohibitive legislation, and incidents similar to this keep repeating. Since most sanitation work is privatised, employer companies and contractors force workers to risk their lives daily, it said.

Despite the problem getting more acute with each passing day, the apathy of governments has ensured that deaths due to occupational hazards are a common occurrence, it said.

The government agencies have still not ensured that sanitation workers mandatorily use safety gear. Further, the non-implementation of labour laws and the allowing of private contractors to exploit them have worsened the lives of workers across the country, it said.

These incidents expose the precarious working conditions of not just sanitation workers but all workers employed in the informal sector, who are at the mercy of their employers, it said.

The SKU demanded that strict action be taken — including the registration of homicide cases — against the Mundka factory owner, the contractor, and the officials responsible for the workers' deaths, it said.

--IANS

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