Kolkata, Feb. 13 -- To ensure zero deaths by switching to complete mechanisation of sewer cleaning, the state government is compiling a list of 2744 sewer and septic tank workers (SSWs) spanned across the 127 urban local bodies across the state.

The state is seeking Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits from the Centre under 'NAMASTE' (National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem) scheme for assuring safety and dignity of conservancy workers. Their details will be soon uploaded on a digital platform.

The move assumes significance in the backdrop of three workers recently dying inside an underground sewer at the Kolkata Leather Complex on February 3, four days after the Supreme Court prohibited manual scavenging and manual sewer-cleaning in six metros including Kolkata.

The NAMASTE scheme under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment makes available 70 types of equipment/machines by providing capital subsidy on loans to SSWs for procurement of sanitation related vehicles/equipment.

The provision of PPE kits and health insurance coverage will be provided to the SSWs. "We have compiled the list of SSWs. Now, we will start a survey of ragpickers. The final component will be a survey of workers associated with drain and road cleaning," a Nabanna official said. He added that the project aims to initiate a transition across all urban local bodies (ULBs) from manhole to machine hole through 100 percent mechanization of sewer and septic tank cleaning operations.

The state has set a target of covering 49 municipalities in four districts - South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly in the first phase. About 400 people were killed while cleaning septic tanks and sewers in India between 2018 and 2023, as per a written reply in the Parliament in December 2023.

In Bengal, three labourers from Nadia died of asphyxiation while undertaking septic tank construction work in an apartment at Trisulia in Odisha's Cuttack in September 2024.

In August, two workers from Malda were killed while another was injured when they got stuck in a 30-feet deep sewerage in Daudpur Kothi locality in Ahiyapur police station area in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.