BWSSB seeks information from public to minimise manual scavenging cases.
Picture for representational purpose only.
Bengaluru: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has sought information and support from the public to minimise manual scavenging cases in the city. It has denied allegations that the practice was rampant in the city.
A Dalit organisation had recently shared some photographs in this connection, which were published in a section of the media. BWSSB has termed the photographs as ‘staged’.
However, the civic body admitted that some cases of manual scavenging do occur in the city, despite the use of 119 jetting machines, the highest for any city in India.
“Manual scavenging has been minimised and is used undertaken in unavoidable circumstances. In these cases, all safety norms are followed. However, in some cases the residents of an area hire some scavengers to enter manholes without informing the BWSSB. This is illegal; nobody other than the BWSSB is authorised to construct, clean and maintain the sewerage network in the city.
“The BWSSB is not able to keep a vigil on each manhole in the city. There are more than 2 lakh manholes and 6,000 km of pipeline in the city,” a BWSSB official explained.
To deal with the issue, the BWSSB has issued an appeal to the public to inform the nearest BWSSB office or call their helpline 22238888, whenever they notice a person entering a manhole. This would help the BWSSB keep a track on manual scavenging cases.
The BWSSB is bound by a High Court order to eliminate manual scavenging. The court direction came in response to a PIL filed in the case of death of workers during manual cleaning of under ground drain pipes (UGD). The BWSSB has filed an affidavit in the High Court that manual scavenging by the board has been minimised and would be eliminated.
Earlier, the Karnataka State Human Right Commission has also called manual scavenging a violation of human rights and asked the authorities to ban it.
To ensure elimination of manual scavenging, the Urban Development Department has released the Draft Sewerage Safety Manual for Karnataka Urban Local Bodies. The same has been notified to all the urban local bodies in the state.
The BWSSB has been procuring jetting machines to clean the UGD in response to the High Court direction and currently its 119 machines are not enough to clean the 2 lakh manholes.
( Source : dc )
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