Creating awareness among conservancy workers regarding the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act is key to prevent deaths due to manual scavenging, said Chairman of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) M. Venkatesan here on Wednesday.
He visited Tiruppur following the deaths of three persons due to asphyxiation inside an effluent tank of a private dyeing unit that occurred on November 14.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the unit in Veerapandi, he said that the district administration and the police must conduct awareness programmes for conservancy workers and others being engaged to clean sewers and septic tanks once in three months.
In addition, the district administration must warn all the owners of dyeing units that no person should be engaged to clean effluent or septic tanks and the authorities concerned must monitor that only machines are being used for cleaning, Mr. Venkatesan said.
Apart from imitating action against the owner of such dyeing units, officials who failed to conduct regular inspections must also be subjected to strict action, the NCSK chairman said.
On November 14, Vadivel (32), a daily wage labourer who was engaged illegally to clean the effluent tank of the dyeing unit at Veerapandi within Tiruppur City Police limits, died after inhaling noxious fumes. Two of the unit’s employees manager Dinesh Pandian (28) and fitter Rajendran (55), who entered the tank to rescue Vadivel, had also died. The Veerapandi police arrested the unit’s owner Dhanalakshmi on the same day.
Out of ₹ 8.25 lakh solatium under the SC/ST Act, the district administration has provided around ₹4 lakh each to the kin of the two deceased who belonged to a Scheduled Caste and will disburse the remaining amount soon, Mr. Venkatesan said.
Along with District Collector S. Vineeth, he visited the residence of the deceased on Wednesday evening. Mr. Venkatesan will chair a review meeting at the District Collectorate in Tiruppur on Thursday.
