The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB or Metrowater) on Thursday told the Madras High Court that it had decided to convert the sanitary workers involved in manual scavenging into ‘sanipreneurs’ (sanitary entrepreneurs) by awarding them the tender for maintenance of the sewer system, using machines, for a period of seven years.
Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu, advocate Krishna Ravindran, representing the CMWSSB, said the Board had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) for training, hand-holding and mentoring the ‘sanipreneurs’.
The submission was made at the hearing of a 2017 public interest litigation petition filed by Safai Karamchari Andolan to put an end to manual scavenging. Representing the petitioner organisation, senior counsel Srinath Sridevan said the Arunthathiyar community was involved in manual scavenging, and it was disheartening to come across several deaths due to it.
When the judges wanted to know the action taken by the State government, State Government Pleader P. Muthukumar told the court that instructions had been issued to the commissioners of all municipal corporations, municipalities and other local bodies to desist from resorting to manual scavenging, and they had also been warned of penal and disciplinary proceedings.
However, the Chief Justice insisted on knowing the measures taken by the State to prevent manual scavenging and it was then that Mr. Ravindran pitched in, stating that the CMWSSB had issued a tender notification on July 5 for deployment of specially fabricated jetting-cum-grabbing machines for maintenance of the sewer system for the next seven years.
The eligibility criteria for the bidders were that they could either be core sanitation workers or the legal heirs of such workers who had died in line of duty, other sanitary workers, persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes/the Scheduled Tribes, women and others. The aim was to ensure safety, dignified self-employment and sustainable livelihood through entrepreneurship development to them.
The DICCI would assist the ‘sanipreneurs’ in obtaining loans sanctioned under Central and State government schemes and also train them in drafting business proposals, plans, contract agreements and so on. The ‘sanipreneurs’ would also be provided practical training in the sewer system maintenance with emphasis on safety, he said.
After hearing him, the judges asked Mr. Ravindran to produce the tender notification on August 10.
