This year’s Ramon Magsaysay award winner Bezwada Wilson said the award will be meaningful only when the inhuman practice of manual scavenging is eradicated from the country.
He was speaking at a felicitation function at his hometown Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) on Sunday.
Wilson was chosen for the award for his crusade against the evil practice. “I got proposal for many awards. However I rejected all of them since manual scavenging is still prevalent in many parts of the country including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh”, he said. “I have accepted the Magsaysay award as it will give more strength to the fight against the uncivilised manual scavenging system.”
Refused to meet PM
“I received a call from the Prime Minister’s Office after the award was announced. But I refused to meet the Prime Minister because the evil system still in vogue”, he said.
He alleged that the Prime Minister was bringing more difficulties to safai karamcharis through his Swacch Bharat Mission and demanded that he seek an apology from the downtrodden communities for this.
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