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An estimated 13 lakh people
continue to manually remove human excreta in the country, 14 years
after it was prohibited by a legislation, mainly due to lack of
coordination between the Centre and state governments, say rights
groups.
Despite being made punishable
under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry
Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993 and allocation of funds to
rehabilitate the workers, the practice of manual scavenging
continues, Bezwada Wilson of Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) said.
"The disgraceful practice of one human being
removing another person's excreta happens at a time when India
aspires to become an economic superpower," Wilson rued.
Echoing his view, Dr Bindeswar Pathak of Sulabh
International alleged that the complacency of the Centre and state
governments has made the practice of manual scavenging continue.
According to Planning Commission statistics of
1989, there were around six lakh scavengers engaged in the task of
removing and transporting night soil. Since then the government has
not held any enumeration to ascertain the exact number of such
workers, Pathak said.
But as per SKA's estimates, there were roughly
about 13 lakh manual scavengers in the country. As per statistics,
33 per cent of the country's total population use dry latrines and
another 33 per cent do not have any toilets in their houses leaving
them to defecate in open spaces. (Agencies)
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