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AMEND THE Manual Scavenging Act to make mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks necessary, exchange the phrase “manhole” with “machine-hole” in official utilization, arrange a nationwide 24×7 helpline to report violations.
These are a few of the key measures which are being applied by the Government with an goal to get rid of manual scavenging throughout the nation by August 2021, in accordance to senior officers.
On Thursday, as a part of this initiative, the Government launched a “challenge” for all states to make sewer-cleaning mechanised by April 2021 — if any human wants to enter a sewer line in case of unavoidable emergency, correct gear and oxygen tanks, and so on., are to be offered.
The problem will supply prize cash in numerous classes totalling Rs 52 crore. “The actual on-ground assessment of participating cities will be conducted in May 2021 by an independent agency and results will be declared on August 15, 2021,” mentioned Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Official information present that manual scavenging has led to 376 deaths over the previous 5 years, together with 110 in 2019 alone — a bounce of 61 per cent from 2018.
“We have instructed that the word manhole is not to be used anymore and only machine-hole is to be used from now on,” mentioned Mishra.
The Ministry can be tying up with MTNL to roll out a nationwide 24X7 helpline quantity the place such instances could be reported.
On the problem, officers mentioned that city native our bodies, state capitals and sensible cities are eligible to take part. They mentioned the 243 cities which are eligible to take part can be cut up into three sub-categories based mostly on inhabitants: up to Three lakh, 3-10 lakh and over 10 lakh, with prizes starting from Rs 8-12 crore.
With Swachh Bharat Mission recognized as a high precedence space by the 15th Finance Commission, and funds out there for sensible cities and concrete growth, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri mentioned the cash wanted to shift to mechanised cleaning wouldn’t be a constraint.
The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, in the meantime, has determined to instantly present funds to staff to buy cleaning machines, as an alternative of giving cash to contractors or municipalities, mentioned R Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The employment or engagement of individuals to manually clear drains, sewer tanks, septic tanks is an offence punishable by imprisonment and nice underneath the Manual Scavenging Act, 2013. As per the provisions of the regulation, manual scavengers are to be recognized and rehabilitated.
However, the issue persists in city areas, mentioned Subrahmanyam. “The amendment in the law will make mechanised cleaning mandatory. It should not be optional…some municipalities like Hyderabad, etc., have done wonderful work in mechanising the system. But it should not be a best practice, it has to be the only practice,” he mentioned.
According to an evaluation by the Social Justice Ministry, regardless of the Manual Scavenging Act and Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 being in place, FIRs are seldom lodged in deaths attributable to this observe, convictions are uncommon, and the Supreme Court-mandated compensation of Rs 10 lakh isn’t paid in all instances.
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