Every time you dump a plastic bag, sanitary item, or rotting food down the drain, spare a thought for the 100-odd workers employed by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to climb into manholes and clean out the sewage lines.
These people immerse themselves in waste on a daily basis to ensure that the sewage pipelines beneath the glitter of the city flow uninterrupted. Though they render essential services and are paid, the manual sewage cleaners face discrimination in society.
Vijayan, a resident of Peyad, is one of the sanitation workers who work hard to make the city clean. “It’s the attitude of the people that matters a lot. We enter manholes, which could be as deep as 5 feet to 8 feet, wearing nothing but cotton undergarments, and when we come out of the narrow holes after cleaning the filth, people don’t provide us even with a bucket of water,” he says.
His colleague Raghavan, who is from Rajaji Nagar at Chenkalchoola (a majority of those employed in manhole cleaning live in the Peyaad and Chenkalchoola areas), says that people mostly turn down his request for a bucket of water to clean himself immediately after the work. “Most of the time we walk further to find a public tap so we can wash up,” he says.
Sanil, another worker, says the ignominy is on the home front too. “My daughter in the beginning refused to come anywhere near me after I returned from work,” he says.
Most of the workers suffer from respiratory diseases, skin infections, and ulcer. “Most of us have breakfast and set out for work. We skip lunch because it’s difficult to eat anything after getting into the drains. Even after a bath, the obnoxious odour is all around us. So, many of the workers end up with ulcer,” says Raju, another worker.
Vijayan says it is a misconception that the workers enter manholes only in ‘high spirits.’
Pay insufficient
The workers feel the present salary of Rs.400 a day is insufficient as the monthly travel expenditure and medical expense come to a minimum of Rs.3,000. Though they are advised to wear protective gear such as safety masks, gloves, and gumboots before entering the manholes, the authorities do not provide them with the required equipment, they say.
An employee union member of the KWA says there is no dearth of technology to clear clogged manholes. It’s sad that a progressive State like Kerala still adopts manual cleaning of manholes, exposing the workers to health hazards and even putting their lives at risk, he says. “We certainly need to do a rethink on manual cleaning of drains,” he says.
