696 districts declared manual scavenging-free: Social justice minister

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar on Friday said that 696 districts have been declared manual scavenging-free in the latest surveys.

At a meeting of the central monitoring committee, which oversees the implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, the Centre directed the states to quickly adapt to mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and ensure that no one dies cleaning them.

"Ensure no sanitation worker comes in direct contact with human faecal matter," the minister said.

According to officials, since the 2024-25 fiscal, the government has profiled 86,806 sewer and septic tank workers for PPE kits and health cover.

They said the Centre has established 639 emergency response sanitation units, and brought waste pickers under the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem scheme.

Out of the 96,255 profiled waste pickers engaged in solid waste management, 46,245 have been validated.

The committee observed that some states have not constituted the various panels stipulated in the MS Act, 2013, and MS Rules, 2013, and not completed a fresh survey of manual scavengers, or furnished the report of the state-level survey committee.

The committee also expressed concern about the loss of the precious lives of 'safai karmacharis' during hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks.

One of major points of discussion was to analyse if the problem of manual scavenging has been eliminated with the conversion of most of the insanitary latrines into sanitary latrines under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Another main focus was on ensuring mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks with protective gear and observance of requisite safety precautions to achieve the objectives of the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme of zero fatality in sanitation work, no direct contact with human faecal matter.

Officials said the government has enhanced the upfront capital subsidy for sanitation related projects/vehicles from the existing Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.50 lakh to individuals, and from Rs 18.75 lakh to Rs 25 lakh to a group of maximum five persons (maximum upfront capital subsidy up to Rs 5 lakh for each). PTI UZM ARI