National Commission for Safai Karmacharis (NCSK) member Jagadeesh Hiremani on Saturday said five districts in the State were selected for a survey of prevalence of manual scavenging and rehabilitation measures.
The pilot project, as part of a national-level exercise taken up by the Central government, would be completed by April-end.
Addressing mediapersons at Palamaner, Mr. Hiremani said the prime objective of the survey was to create awareness among the health workers in all civic bodies and private establishments against manual scavenging and promote the rules and regulations as per the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
The survey would be done in Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari, Krishna and Prakasam districts.
Safety measures
Mr. Hiremani said all the heads of district administration in the country were informed to tackle the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, and initiate steps for providing the safai workers with foolproof safety gadgets and training in mechanised scavenging.
The NCSK member cautioned that in case of any casualty occurring due to manual scavenging either in government or private sector, the area officers such as Collectors and other revenue officials would face severe consequences as their names would be included in the First Information Reports (FIRs) as A1. “In spite of their hard work, the safai workers are being employed on temporary basis all over India, and they are subjected to discrimination and poor wages,” he said.
Inspection
Mr. Hiremani, accompanied by Deputy Director (Social Welfare) Vijay Kumar and Deputy SP (Palamaner) K. Chowdeswari, visited the S.V. Hatcheries at Moram village of Palamaner mandal and inspected the septic tank tragedy site (where seven workers were killed due to poisonous gases on February 16). He interacted with the family members of the deceased workers, and enquired about the financial benefits promised to them.
Ms. Chowdeswari said five families were paid ₹25 lakh each and the process was on in case of the other two families from Karnataka.
Earlier, Mr Hiremani conducted inspections in the Chittoor municipal corporation.
