The young and old men who work as manual scavengers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the country.
They brave stench and filth in the most deplorable conditions imaginable when they descend into the gutters to risk their lives for a meagre pay of around 7,500 to 10,000 rupees (£79 to £105) a month.
Private daily contractors can be paid as little as 500 rupees (£5) for a day's cleaning.
Recent government statistics revealed that a manual scavenger has died every five days since the start of 2017 while cleaning sewers.
A total of 573 people died between 2008 and 2018, data shows. A further 96 people died from January to September this year.
Vishal, 20, Pankaj, 26, Sarfaraz, 19, Raja, 22, Umesh, 20, and Pradeep worked as maintenance workers and pump operators in a residential building.
But they were forced by their supervisor to go inside a septic tank to clean it – without any safety equipment or masks. Only Pradeep survived, while the others died after inhaling toxic gases while cleaning the tank.
Many manual scavengers belong to Valmiki community, a sub-caste that is considered one of the lowest of the so-called 'untouchable' Dalit caste.
They enter sewers with nothing but a safety belt with which they can be pulled free if they become asphyxiated by the poisonous gases.
Most of the sewer workers working under him commonly suffer from eye problems, respiratory and skin diseases.
They work in the hope of eventually earning better salaries. But even if they do receive increased wages, much of that income will have to go to the health treatment their work will inevitably induce.
They brave stench and filth in the most deplorable conditions imaginable when they descend into the gutters to risk their lives for a meagre pay of around 7,500 to 10,000 rupees (£79 to £105) a month.
Private daily contractors can be paid as little as 500 rupees (£5) for a day's cleaning.
Recent government statistics revealed that a manual scavenger has died every five days since the start of 2017 while cleaning sewers.
A total of 573 people died between 2008 and 2018, data shows. A further 96 people died from January to September this year.
Vishal, 20, Pankaj, 26, Sarfaraz, 19, Raja, 22, Umesh, 20, and Pradeep worked as maintenance workers and pump operators in a residential building.
But they were forced by their supervisor to go inside a septic tank to clean it – without any safety equipment or masks. Only Pradeep survived, while the others died after inhaling toxic gases while cleaning the tank.
Many manual scavengers belong to Valmiki community, a sub-caste that is considered one of the lowest of the so-called 'untouchable' Dalit caste.
They enter sewers with nothing but a safety belt with which they can be pulled free if they become asphyxiated by the poisonous gases.
Most of the sewer workers working under him commonly suffer from eye problems, respiratory and skin diseases.
They work in the hope of eventually earning better salaries. But even if they do receive increased wages, much of that income will have to go to the health treatment their work will inevitably induce.
Music: "Dub Feral" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: Hindustan Times, Daily Mail
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