IEP Chandigarh, February 2
Vice-Chairperson of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) Smt. Anjna Panwar, emphasised the crucial role sanitation workers play in society. She acknowledged the significance of Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi’s ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan’ and emphasised that the success of the campaign is unimaginable without the contributions of the sanitation workers.
Smt. Panwar highlighted the vital role these workers played during the pandemic and urged everyone to be more sensitive to their needs. She directed officers to take prompt action on letters sent by the NCSK department.
Smt. Panwar visited Haryana to review the social, economic, and educational levels of sanitation workers and their dependents and to review self-employment schemes for their rehabilitation. During her visit, she chaired a meeting in Chandigarh with the representatives of Safai Karmachari Commission and administrative secretaries of various departments. Commissioner & Secretary, Social Justice, Empowerment, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward classes and Antyodaya (SEWA) department, Sh. Pankaj Agarwal and Director General, SEWA, and Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Smt. Ashima Brar also attended the meeting.
The Vice Chairperson of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis stated that as per the Supreme Court’s decision, no human should be sent for sewer cleaning. According to the Manual Scavengers Act, sewer cleaning should be done using machines instead of humans, aimed at saving lives. It is important for contractors and workers of sewer cleaning and various departments to be informed about this law. She also mentioned that the supreme court has increased the financial assistance of sewer workers who died during cleaning, from Rs.10 Lakh to Rs.30 Lakh, entitled for their dependents.
Smt. Panwar further highlighting the importance of health stated that proper clothes, gloves and shoes should be provided to the sanitation workers according to the weather, and said that attendance register centres should be established in different regions of cities, and separate bathrooms for men and women, drinking water, and changing rooms should be built for their safety as well.
She also directed officers to take swift actions in the pending financial assistance cases of the sanitation workers.
She recommended providing homes or creating dedicated colonies for the rehabilitation of sanitation workers and constructing well-equipped community centres that would facilitate their social activities. Additionally she said that a proper management of their children’s education needs attention.
She stressed the adoption of self-employment for sanitation workers and said that National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation offers loans ranging from Rs.1 lakh to 50 lakhs for self-employment. Similarly, in Haryana, sanitation workers’ children can avail a loan of Rs.10 lakhs for higher education.
On this occasion, the Commissioner and Secretary of the SEWA Department, Sh. Pankaj Agarwal informed that the Chief Minister is deeply concerned about the well-being of sanitation workers and the state government will formulate a policy for the welfare of sanitation workers soon. The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) was established in 2017. During sewer cleaning, there were 124 reported cases of sanitation worker deaths in Haryana and out of these; financial assistance was provided to 90 affected families, and partial financial assistance was given in 10 cases. He mentioned that the Public Health Engineering Department has been designated as the nodal department to formulate policies.
Managing Director, Haryana Scheduled Castes, Finance and Development Corporation, Smt. Geeta Bharti and other officers remained present during the occasion.
