Govt should stop killing us in sewers: Magsaysay award winner

Bengaluru: Mr Bezwada Wilson, a campaigner against manual scavenging, who was chosen for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for 2016 on Wednesday, spoke to Deccan Chronicle from New Delhi. Here are the excerpts.

What do you think of manual scavenging in India?
Still there are two lakh Safai Karmakari women who are cleaning human excreta in dry latrines throughout our country, especially in seven major states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jammu Kashmir and Uttarakand. The government should stop this. We have not yet enumerated those who clean sewer lines and septic tanks.

How many have died so far because of manual scavenging?
We conducted a survey and found that 1,073 people have died. Of them, only 36 received the compensation and again, not all of them got the full Rs 10 lakh. Only a few got Rs 10 lakh, while others received only Rs 2 lakh or Rs 1 lakh. Many state governments have gone to the court saying that they don’t have the money to give compensation. We strongly condemn such attitude.

What is the court’s direction to the government on your petition?
According to the Supreme Court judgement, the government had to identify such Safai Karmakaris from 1993 till now, but it has not been done. We got the data for only the last three years and the number of dead is 1,073.

Where did you campaign?
We campaigned throughout the country, especially in those states where dry latrines and manual scavenging still exist. Dying people are of course everywhere in the country and no state is an exception.

What inspired you to become an activist?
I am not an activist. I am from the same community. I have seen this since my childhood. The cruelty meted out to human beings and the plight of humanity moved me and I thought this cannot continue in our society.

We talk about the Constitution, we talk about freedom, but we do engage human beings to clean human excreta. The two things cannot go together. It was just a response from me and in the process, I took on this role and people started calling me an activist.

What was your first activity in this field? How did you start your career?
I started everything in my hometown in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), and later it spread to different states. We started talking to them and asked why should we clean somebody’s else’s ‘s**t’. They replied asking what else they could do. We confronted them, saying how others were living with dignity doing other jobs.

They started thinking and started choosing their own jobs. One started to work at a ration shop, another became a kerosene dealer, yet another started to drive an autorickshaw, the other bought buffaloes and cows, and so on. All this happened in my hometown and it took on the shape of a movement. But what we are fighting for is that the government should recognise such people and support them to find and get jobs of their choice.

How does Karnataka fare?
Dry latrines are minimal in Karnataka, but septic tanks and sewerage lines are alarmingly high. That is because of rapid urbanisation and it is especially high in Bengaluru. Even in Karnataka, people are dying and the government is not compensating them properly. The government is not taking any steps to not “kill us” working in sewer lines or septic tanks. We have the data of many deaths reported in Bengaluru because of manual scavenging. In the entire state, 51 people have died because of manual scavenging.

Whenever a natural calamity occurs, the scavenging community is called to clean the mess. What is your take?
Be it the Chennai floods, tsunami, Gujarat earthquake or Orissa floods, scavengers are called to clear decomposing bodies. Only people from our community do such jobs and nobody else. Others only mimic our prime minister on Swacch Bharat, but the actual cleaning is done by the people from our community.

What can be done to eradicate manual scavenging?
The government should immediately convert all dry latrines into flush out latrines, mechanise cleaning of septic tanks and construct proper sewage system everywhere. Then, they can stop killing us.