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Haryana
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar Announces Rs 10 Lakh To Next Of Kin Of Workers Who Died Cleaning Sewers
|The Haryana Chief Minister also directed officers of the Urban Local Bodies Department to formulate a committee of employees who are engaged in cleaning work and make further arrangements for awarding contracts that are related to cleanliness.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar officially announced on January 11that the next of kin of all the workers who lost their lives in the process of cleaning sewers will be provided financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh.
Thus far, this above-mentioned assistance amount has been provided to the family members of the 57 sanitation workers all over the state, CM Manohar Lal Khattar stated during a meeting of the State Monitoring Committee constituted on the Manual Scavenging Act on January 11 as per an official release by the Directorate of Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Haryana stated.
"If private companies engaged in cleaning work are reluctant in giving this assistance, then strict action will be taken against them," CM Khattar has been quoted as saying by ANI.
The Haryana CM also directed officers of the Urban Local Bodies Department to formulate a committee of employees who are engaged in cleaning work and make further arrangements for awarding contracts that are related to cleanliness.
Deaths In India Due To Manual Scavenging
As per a report from December last year, around 321 people died in the last five years while cleaning sewers and septic tanks. Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale had released the data in response to a query raised by Bahujan Samaj Party member Girish Chandra in the Lok Sabha on the status of manual scavenging in the country.
Furthermore, the BSP member also sought the number of individuals involved in cleaning and the central government's efforts to reinstate these people. Athawale stated there are about 58,098 manual scavengers at present. Uttar Pradesh had a maximum number of people (32,473), and Chattisgarh with the lowest (3), Scroll reported.
The data is problematic, given that the practice is banned in the country. In 1993, the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act was implemented to prevent the employment of people for the cleaning, opening pits, drains, etc., and punish the employer with imprisonment for up to one year and a fine.
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