Exposed: DMK's social justice plank crumbles with manual scavenging deaths

New Delhi: The DMK-led administration in Tamil Nadu is encountering severe backlash for its inability to honour the pledge to eradicate manual scavenging, a commitment made in the spirit of social justice. 

Notwithstanding consistent guarantees of protection and respect for sanitation workers, the state keeps experiencing fatalities in sewer lines and septic tanks, underscoring a profound disparity between pledges and execution.

Pledges That Ignited Expectations

Ahead of the 2021 state assembly polls, DMK figures committed to fully abolishing manual scavenging. The party's manifesto highlighted modernisation initiatives, automated sanitation technologies, and stringent prohibitions on human involvement in risky cleaning operations. 

These vows, rooted in the Dravidian ethos of societal fairness, sparked optimism for innumerable sanitation workers statewide.

A Stark and Unyielding Reality

Now, four years hence, such expectations have diminished. Sanitation staff persist in succumbing during drain and septic tank cleanings, commonly lacking essential protective equipment or adequate monitoring. 

Each fatality narrates a tale of disregard, muteness, and detachment. Kin of the departed recount how bureaucrats extend offers of remuneration yet seldom furnish genuine redress or sustainable fixes.

Data Unveils the Alarming Trend

The statistics depict a harrowing scenario:

2021: 6 to 10 workers perished.

2022: The number increased to 14-16.

2023: Reports indicated at least 15 to 18 deaths, including five in May.

2024: An additional 12 to 15 lives were claimed.

By September 2025: Eight fatalities had been documented, with three in one event in Tiruppur.

A fresh mishap unfolded lately in Thiruppathi Nagar, adjacent to Balaji Nagar in Kolathur, Chennai, where sanitation worker Kuppan perished from asphyxiation due to poisonous fumes during a sewage channel clearance. His demise was instantaneous. Campaigners assert that these episodes are vastly underdocumented, positing that true figures are substantially greater.

Deficient Frameworks and Disregard

Opponents contend that the regime's measures are predominantly superficial. Though robotic sanitation devices were launched in restricted locales such as Chepauk in 2021, comprehensive deployment has advanced at a glacial pace. 

Across most locales, personnel still depend on primitive instruments and physical exertion for septic tank upkeep.

Likewise, the Annal Ambedkar Business Champions Scheme (AABCS), aimed at transforming sanitation workers into business proprietors, has yielded negligible results. By mid-2023, advocates observed that the initiative was chiefly conceptual, boasting scant recipients and deficient clarity.

Muteness Among Coalition Partners

Coalition associates like the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Congress, famed for their robust advocacy on equity issues, have predominantly refrained from commenting on these fatalities. For numerous in disenfranchised groups, this quietude signifies a forsaking of their enduring quest for respect and parity.

Accountability That Remains Elusive

Virtually every manual scavenging casualty originates from disadvantaged castes. Nevertheless, legal convictions are scarce. Grieving relatives frequently face extended waits, spanning months or even years, for indemnification. Many express feeling objectified as mere figures rather than rightful claimants to equity.

A Promise Yet to Be Realised

The DMK's 2021 electoral blueprint assured the substitution of manual toil with mechanized alternatives, worker rehabilitation, and the imposition of responsibility. Yet, four years later, Tamil Nadu's effluent systems continue to exact human tolls. 

Detractors maintain that the governance's emphasis has transitioned from authentic transformation to superficial displays, from on-site advancements to mere proclamations.

Absent the imposition of authentic responsibility, expedited automation, and the bestowal of warranted dignity upon sanitation workers, the assurance to terminate manual scavenging lingers unattained, a somber testament to forfeited existences and unkept assurances.