India, Oct. 15 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received as many as 355 declarations of manual scavenging from the M East and M West wards-covering areas like Govandi and Chembur-on Tuesday, in response to an annual exercise to identify manual scavengers in the city. In 2024, the civic body's first such survey had reported zero cases-a statistic it has maintained for several years.

"The names submitted today are of workers who are employed every year in the pre-monsoon cleaning of open and closed drains, chambers and sewer lines, where they are made to step in the drains and scoop out the waste in extremely hazardous conditions without adequate safety gear," said Shubham Kothari, one of the people behind the Loktantrik Kam...