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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Manual scavenge ban on track

Manual scavenge ban on track

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published Published on Jul 24, 2013   modified Modified on Jul 24, 2013
-The Telegraph


New Delhi: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has got a reluctant railways on board for its ambitious bill seeking a blanket ban on manual scavenging.

The Prohibition of Empowerment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, which was cleared last week by the cabinet, had been pending for over a year because the railways did not want to be part of it. The largest public carrier had sought exemption on the grounds that it was not its job to construct community toilets along railway tracks - the country's largest open toilet.

Railway board chairperson Vinay Mittal had written to the law ministry: "Railways have the responsibility for public carriage of passengers or goods and have the mandate to execute necessary works for the purpose of operating and maintaining a railway only." The letter also added that building community toilets was the job of civic bodies.

However, social justice and empowerment minister Kumari Selja refused to budge and said India's largest public carrier could not be left out of a law in which it is a major "stakeholder".

Sources indicated that the ministry redefined "community" for this particular bill to include any place that is being used for open defecation, thus bringing the railways into the scheme.

Sources said the railways were concerned about expenses and in a dilemma over the humongous task of keeping India's 1.15 lakh km of tracks clean.

The railways had told a standing committee formed to deliberate on the bill that it used scrubbers, high-pressure jet cleaners and mops to clean the tracks and its toilets in trains and on platforms. Washable aprons were provided to its cleaners, it said. The railways have also started a trial project of aircraft-type vacuum toilets in Shatabdi Express.

The railways had cited these measures when seeking exemption. It had also said community toilets along tracks would increase trespass and would impinge upon the safety of trains.

However, the arguments convinced neither the ministry nor the groups campaigning for total eradication of manual scavenging.

"The railways have always found ways to skirt the issue. Now they are saying that they use high-pressure jet cleaners to clean the excreta, but they basically drain them into the drains and sewers where the manual scavenger has to clean it. It was wrong of them to seek exemption as the railway tracks in the country are the most popular place for open defecation," said Kamlaben Gurjar, chairperson, National Commission for Safai Karmacharis, which will monitor the implementation of the act once it is passed.

The standing committee in its report in March recommended that the railways seek more funds for the 12th Five Year Plan for the conversion of all toilets into bio-toilets, elimination of direct discharge toilets and construction of more toilets.

The bill, which will become a law once it's passed by both the Houses, has strict provisions for penalties for those defying the law. The maximum penalty is five years of imprisonment and/or a fine up to Rs 5 lakh.


The Telegraph, 24 July, 2013, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130724/jsp/nation/story_17150736.jsp#.Ue-pCKzcjco


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