India: Supreme Court issues notices to address manual scavenging

Updated - Tuesday 12 May 2009

The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi government to explain its failure to implement a central law against manual scavenging that provides for elimination of dry latrines and rehabilitation of scavengers. Earlier, the court had also sent to district magistrates the details of over 2,000 dry latrine owners in over 25 districts in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan seeking their explanation for their failure in demolishing the latrines and prosecuting the owners.

The notices were sent after the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) (Sanitary Workers’ Movement) had provided evidence that the practice of manual scavenging still existed, 16 years after the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act was passed by the Union Government in 1993.

Under the provision of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, SKA had obtained the results of a Delhi University survey that had identified 1,085 scavengers still working in Delhi, In March 2008, the Delhi government had “categorically denied existence” of manual scavenging.

SKA has been campaigning to eliminate manual scavenging since 2003.

Related news:

Bindeshwar Pathak: Indian sanitation innovator & social reformer awarded 2009 Stockholm Water Prize, Source Weekly, 03 Apr 2009 ;
India, New Delhi: cold carts help improve quality of life for manual scavengers, Source South Asia, 14 Oct 2008 ;
India, Gujarat: sweepers request permission for mass suicide, Source South Asia, 12 Nov 2009

Contact: Safai Karmachari Andolan, Delhi office, India, tel.: +91-(0)11–25863166, ska_delhi@vsnl.net, http://safaikarmachariandolan.org

Source: IANS / Thaindian news, 8 May 2009 ; Dhananjay Mahapatra, Times of India, 10 May 2009