In last 3 years, 288 people died cleaning sewers, septic tanks: Govt

A total of 288 people have died in the country while cleaning sewers or septic tanks during the last three years, the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry said on Monday.

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said a national survey of manual scavengers was carried out during 2018-19 in 194 districts of 18 states to identify all those manual scavengers who were cleaning the insanitary latrines, which have since been converted into sanitary latrines under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

"As per reports received from states, 288 persons have died while cleaning sewers or septic tanks during the last three years up to August 31, 2020," he said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

According to the data provided by Athawale, 51,835 manual scavengers have been identified in the survey, out of which 24,932 were identified in Uttar Pradesh alone.