{"id":229121,"date":"2020-05-12T09:16:07","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T03:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=229121"},"modified":"2020-07-14T19:32:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T14:02:02","slug":"advocating-the-rights-of-sanitation-workers-amidst-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/12\/advocating-the-rights-of-sanitation-workers-amidst-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocating the Rights of Sanitation Workers Amidst Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ongoing battle with Covid-19 seems to be an unending one. As the world grapples with the pandemic, there happen to be those ready to take the fight to the virus itself. Our health professionals, policemen, delivery boys, etc. have constantly been working night in and night out to keep the country up and running in such grave times. Over 200 nations have been affected by the pandemic and despite taking the best possible measures the number of patients and lives lost to the disease only keeps increasing. WHO\u2019s guidelines suggest that one should practice social distancing and wash hands at regular intervals with soap to help prevent the spread of the virus. However, the ones really prone to catching this virus are not the ones who are under a lockdown rather the ones providing essential services such as sanitation workers\/safai karamcharis.<\/span><\/p>\n

We come across sanitation workers almost on a daily basis. The services they provide us with are very crucial but are often ignored as not enough emphasis is laid on the kind of environment they have to work in just so that the others can live and breathe in a healthier environment which prioritises hygiene. Our doctors, nurses and policemen are lauded for their work but the efforts of our sanitation workers often go unnoticed. Recently in Dharavi, a sanitation worker tested positive for the virus as a consequence of which his wife and son-in-law were infected too which then led to his wife\u2019s death. Masks, gloves and hand soaps are often a luxury to them. They are forced by their employers; in this case primarily municipal corporations and contractors to either work and be paid or be left unemployed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Article 46 of the Constitution mandates that the State is under an obligation to work for the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society keeping in mind their educational and economic interests but when incidents like that of Dharavi come to light, we realise that only so much has been done and that they are deprived of their basic human rights. <\/span><\/p>\n

Judicial approach<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This issue was highlighted when a plea was filed in Supreme Court on 9-4-2020 highlighting the plight of migrant workers amidst Covid-19. The petitioner, Harnam Singh in his PIL[1]<\/strong><\/a> prayed to the Court to issue necessary directions to the State for sanitation workers to be provided with proper kit like gloves, masks, and boots etc., to wear while on duty. Instead of our health workers who work in closed protected environments, they have to deal with what has been discarded by the society at large as waste. Considering that the virus can survive for days on various surfaces if not sanitised, the possibility of these workers contracting the virus from such places increases dramatically. Article 21 of the Constitution of India provides for right to life. It encompasses within itself all such rights necessary for one to live his life with human dignity for example right to health, right to shelter, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right to Health:<\/b><\/span> In\u00a0Consumer Education and Research Centre<\/i> v. Union of India <\/i>[2]<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0the Supreme Court laid down that:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSocial justice which is a device to ensure life to be meaningful and liveable with human dignity requires the State to provide to workmen facilities and opportunities to reach at least minimum standard of health, economic security and civilized living. The health and strength of worker, the court said, was an important facet of right to life. Denial thereof denudes the workmen the finer facets of life violating Article 21.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The plea also states that Sections 2(1)(d), 7 and 9 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 should be strictly complied with. It implies that if any worker is employed in cleaning of hazardous waste i.e. manual cleaning without any protective gear or any other necessary kit, then the employer can be punished for a period of up to two years and will also be liable to pay a fine of up to two lakh rupees. It may also extend for up to five years of imprisonment or five lakh rupees or both.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even after the enactment of the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the unsanitary and dehumanising practice of cleaning waste manually still continues to this day. The pandemic has changed nothing as even prior to this outbreak they led a life which posed risk to their lives every single day. Addressing the issue of working conditions of sanitary workers\/manual scavengers, the Supreme Court in Safai Karamchari Andolan<\/i> v. Union of India<\/i>[3]<\/a><\/strong> held that the practice of hazardous cleaning is dehumanising and risks the lives of the people cleaning potholes and picking up garbage with bare hands and hence, issued a few guidelines in the concerning issue.<\/span><\/p>\n