HYDERABAD: Families of at least 15 safai karamcharis in Telangana who had died while cleaning manholes and septic tanks manually are yet to receive the promised compensation. Some have been waiting for over 10 years. This despite, the Supreme Court in 2003 ordering a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to family members of those who had died in sewerage work since 1993.
A report by National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) stated that over 900 karamcharis have died across India since 1993. But among these cases, compensation of 10 lakh has been paid to the families in only about 55 cases.
I have exhausted all my savings and have huge debts after getting my elder daughter married recently. Every time we ask the authorities for compensation, they delay it by saying that it is under process. I need the money so that my children could have a future," said B Bhagyalakshmi (30), a mother of three who works as a sweeper in a government office. Her husband was asphyxiated while cleaning a manhole near Sultan Bazar in May 2006. Now, she is the sole breadwinner of the family.
In 2019, then Telangana HC Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan had taken the initiative to ensure families of safai karamcharis got the compensation as per the Prohibition of the Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. Following the CJ's directions, the Telangana State Legal Services Authority (TSLSA) collected details of the deceased karamcharis. But only nine families were given compensation from the 13 applicants last year.
Recalling how her husband died in 2016, G Mangamma (37), said, "My husband along with another karamchari died while cleaning the manhole near Kapadia Lane. Since then we have been waiting for compensation. We did not receive any help from the government." Similar was the plight of 13 other families that had lost their breadwinners due to asphyxiation during manual scavenging in Telangana over the past few years. In Hyderabad alone, there are five families, including the families of two who had died on Tuesday night.
The Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) Telangana unit has asked the NCSK to pay 10 lakh compensation each to these families. Referring to the Supreme Court judgment ordering compensation for all such families from 1993, SKA state president K Saraswati said, "It is about time the victims' families are identified and givencompensation of 10 lakh each as ordered by apex court. Some have been waiting for more than a decade."
