Curse on society that people still dying cleaning sewage: NHRC chief

Flagging that it was a "curse" on the society that death of people while cleaning sewage continued to occur, NHRC chief justice H L Dattu Friday said the government "needs to tell what it has done" to end manual scavenging and merely putting laws in place "will not to suffice".

He said this at a National Human Rights Commission's open forum on the issues and challenges of manual scavenging and human rights here.

"The government needs to tell what it has done to end this menace. Merely putting laws in place will not to suffice; the ground realties need to change," Dattu was quoted as saying in a statement by the NHRC.

In his address, he expressed serious concern over the continuance of manual scavenging in the country.

"Even after the intervention of the Supreme Court in the matter, it appears that the laws to eradicate manual scavenging are lying on the table and may remain so unless implemented proactively," the rights panel chief said.

The commission said it has taken suo motu cognisance of 34 incidents related to manual scavenging menace in the recent past.

The NHRC chairperson said, "This menace should have ended long back by adopting some system, as in the developed countries."