As many as 339 people have died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in India in the last five years, according to government data.
Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said nine such deaths were recorded in 2023, 66 in 2022, 58 in 2021, 22 in 2020, 117 in 2019 and 67 deaths in 2018.
Manual scavenging is a banned practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, 2013. The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling, in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
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