Bezwada Wilson, Magsaysay award winner and convener of the National Safai Karmachari Andolan, said on Wednesday that the government should install sewage treatment plants to end manual scavenging in the country.
He was speaking after inaugurating a four-day communication fest ‘Article 19’, organised by the School of Communication, here.
Mr. Wilson said that the plight of safai karamcharis was the worst in the country. None of them wanted to do scavenging themselves but it was thrust upon them by the society in India, he said. None of the cities in the country, including New Delhi barring a few areas there, had a mechanical sewage system.
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This meant that karamcharis still had to get into the manholes or drainage systems. There were not enough sucking machines which could do this work.
Though the National Safai Karmachari Andolan had submitted a memorandum on this issue to the President and Prime Minister, there had hardly been any action. Instead there was talk of Swachh Bharat, where elected representatives held a broom, cleaned a street for about five minut es for the sake of news television cameras.
After that it was forgotten, he said. He said that there are 1.6 lakh women safai karamcharis in the country. In fact, 93% of scavengers were women.
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The andolan was working to create awareness among them and rehabilitating them by shifting them to other professions.
He said that untouchability was still being practised in the villages and people of different castes lived in different and separate locations. “Caste and patriarchy still ruled the country and not the Constitution,” he said. Diversity in the country should be cherished.
It was wrong to impose homogeneity in a big country with multi-cultural ethos. The different food habits of the people should be respected.
Universities should become centres which promoted diverse thinking, Mr. Wilson said.