2 months ago
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The Union authorities is yet to place immoderate measurable indicators to amusement the enhanced ratio oregon productivity resulting from the mechanisation of sewer and septic vessel cleaning, it told the Lok Sabha connected Tuesday (March 17, 2026), successful effect to a question astir the advancement of the NAMASTE ngo to mechanise sanitation enactment crossed the state and forestall deaths from hazardous cleaning.
The authorities added that it had nary accusation astir the income emergence among sanitation workers since the ngo started successful 2023-24.
In effect to different question, the authorities said that 622 radical crossed India had died owed to hazardous cleaning since 2017. It added that, successful 2025, the National Commission for Safai Karmacharis received 842 complaints from sanitation workers astir “non-payment of wages, denial of information instrumentality and caste-based discrimination”.
NAMASTE ngo impact
The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment was responding to aggregate questions astir the advancement of the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) strategy and the presumption of those employed to cleanable sewers and septic tanks.
In effect to a question from Janata Dal (United) MP Dileshwar Kamait, Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale said that implicit 89,000 sewer and septic vessel workers (SSWs) had been identified and validated by assorted municipality section bodies successful the state nether the scheme. Parliament information from December 2025 showed that 85,473 PPE kits were distributed, and implicit 71,000 of them had been covered nether Ayushman Bharat.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is besides progressive successful backing utilized h2o attraction operations successful municipality section bodies with a colonisation nether 1 lakh, including enactment for the mechanisation of sewer and septic vessel cleaning operations. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, launched successful 2021, the Centre allocated ₹15,926 crore for this, with enactment plans approved for projects worthy ₹13,699 crore.
No productivity indicators
In effect to Mr. Kamait’s nonstop question connected whether determination were indicators for accrued ratio oregon enhanced productivity owed to this mechanisation plan, the Minister said, “No measurable indicators person truthful acold been identified to amusement enhanced ratio oregon productivity owed to mechanisation.” Similarly, the authorities said it had nary accusation connected immoderate summation successful sanitation workers’ income.
In effect to different question from Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Choudhary, the authorities said that since 2017, implicit 600 radical had died from hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, of which the families of 539 were paid afloat compensation, portion the families of 52 person not received immoderate compensation.
‘Not caste-based’
Ms. Choudhary had besides asked astir the steps taken by the authorities to destruct the “inter-generational caste-based” quality of the occupation, to which Mr. Athawale insisted that sewer and septic vessel cleaning enactment was “occupation-based”, and not caste-based.
Parliament information from December 2024 showed that among sewer and septic vessel workers profiled nether NAMASTE till then, 91.95% were from SC, ST, and OBC backgrounds, portion astir 8.05% were from the General class communities. Later, the counting of waste-pickers nether the aforesaid strategy showed that arsenic of February this year, 84.5% of waste-pickers nationwide were from SC/ST and OBC communities and 10.7% from General class communities.
