“There should be no manual scavenging in the State. Strict legal action will be taken against anyone who gets someone to do manual scavenging,” said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after inaugurating the rehabilitation convention and one-time subsidy distribution ceremony for newly-identified manual scavengers on Wednesday.
The convention was organised by the The Social Welfare Department, Karnataka State Safai Karmachari Development Corporation and Commission for Manual Scavengers. The State government has newly identified 4,556 manual scavengers and has started distributing a financial compensation of ₹40,000 per person.
According to Obalesh, State Convenor, Safai Karmachari Kavalu Samiti, around 80% of the newly-identified manual scavengers have received compensation so far, worth around ₹18 crore. After the Union government refused to provide financial aid for the rehabilitation of the newly-identified manual scavengers due to technical reasons, the State government took up the task of giving them ID numbers and compensation.
However, the compensation of ₹40,000 doesn’t lead to any kind of rehabilitation, Mr. Obalesh said. He said that according to the guidelines of the Manual Scavenging Act, 2013, the government should provide comprehensive rehabilitation to manual scavengers. He noted that in the absence of such rehabilitation, manual scavengers will go back to scavenging.
“We have demanded the State government earmark ₹350 crore for the rehabilitation of the 7,483 manual scavengers who have been recognised. We have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister to allot ₹5 lakh per person for their comprehensive rehabilitation. We were expecting a positive response regarding this at the convention, but sadly he said nothing,” he said.
