Mira-Bhayandar News: MBMC Contractors Flout Law By Forcing Workers Into Manual Scavenging Without Safety Gear, Violating Article 21 And MS Act

Mira-Bhayandar: The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) does not practise what it preaches. After issuing notices (in January this year) warning strict action against housing societies, commercial and educational complexes who are found pressing humans to conduct the undignified and dangerous labour work, MBMC’s own contractors who have been hired to carry-out the pre-monsoon desilting operations are brazenly violating the rules.

The contractual worker force can be seen manually cleaning drains without any protective gear to ensure their safety, even as the civic administration which has doled multi crore cleanliness tenders has chosen to turn a blind eye towards the brazen violation of right to life and dignity which is mandated under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Several workers were seen entering manholes and cleaning inside the gutters barefooted thereby exposing themselves to extreme health hazards. This type of manual clean-up operations is equally harmful as compared to manual scavenging which is a banned activity under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act, 2013) throughout the country.

“Compelling sanitation workers to enter toxic and life-threatening environments like drains without safety measures is a direct assault on their right to live with dignity. None of the sanitation workers were provided with any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as hand gloves, gumboots, face masks, or safety kits during the cleaning operations.” said social activist-Adv. Krishna Gupta who has registered a complaint (armed with photographic evidence) with the MBMC chief seeking a probe and penal action against responsible officials and contractors for indulging in unsafe and inhuman sewer cleaning practices.

The law states that any person or agency that engages people for manual scavenging is punishable under section 8 of the Act with imprisonment up to two years or fine up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.

According to the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) rules the civic administration in its capacity as the principal employer should ensure that the contractor provides protective gear to all workers involved in handling waste.