Worker made to enter manhole in Gandhinagar without safety gear

AHMEDABAD: A sanitation worker was made to climb down a manhole at Sector 3B in Gandhinagar to clean up a clogged sewer line. Pictures that went viral on social media show a shirtless worker without safety gear being lowered into the manhole by a rope.

Dalit rights activist and independent MLA from Vadgam Jignesh Mevani tweeted these pictures saying that the worker was made to enter a manhole located near Navratri Chowk in Sector 3B.He tagged official twitter handles of state DGP, Gandhinagar collector, chief minister’s office and the prime minister’s office, demanding action against those responsible for violation of law as well as human rights.
“This is a clear violation of Section 5 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act 2013. It seems that the government and authorities are terribly indifferent towards the plight of sanitation workers. In the past few months, I have come across three such incidents where workers were made to enter a manhole without safety gears,” Mevani told TOI.
The Act prohibits state and Union territories from employing workers for manual scavenging of sewer and drainage lines. In July 2019, in response to a writ petition by Manav Garima Trust, Gujarat government had submitted before the Gujarat High Court that state’s civic bodies have been directed to ensure that no person shall be asked to enter manholes to clean the lines.