Surya Kant, J. - (1.) THIS writ petition has been filed in Public Interest. While highlighting the plight and deplorable conditions under which the Sewerage Workers are required to work in the States of Punjab, Haryana and U.T., Chandigarh, the Petitioners - -the Sewerage Employees Union [Registered] Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh and Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, seek the following directions: [i] a restraint order against the Respondents from employing any person to enter the manhole or sewer for any purpose whatsoever ; [ii] all the cleaning work of sewerage be done mechanically; [iii] If a Sewerage Worker is required to enter the manhole or the sewer in an emergent situation, he should be provided with protection clothing and equipments as set out by the Gujrat High Court in its order, dated 15th February, 2006 [Annexure P -8]. [iv] the Respondents be directed to provide alternative work on permanent and regular basis to all the existing Sewerage Workers ; [v] the Respondents be directed to pay compensation of Rs. 10 lac each to the families of those Sewerage Workers who have died after entering the manhole for sewage cleaning; [vi] the Respondents be directed to carry out the comprehensive medical check -up of all the Sewerage Workers and thereafter provide them adequate medical treatment free of costs and also to pay them full wages and other benefits for the entire period for which they are unable to work while undergoing treatment; [vii] the Respondents be directed to accept and follow the recommendations made by the Centre for Education and Communication [Annexure P -7); [viii] the Respondents be directed to ensure that all the Sewer -Workmen get benefits of the legislations ; like [a] The Provident Fund Act ; [b] The ESIC Act; [c] The WorkmanCompensation Act; [d] The Payment of Gratuity Act; [e] The Payment of Bonus Act; [f] The Maternity Benefit Act ; [g] The Payment of Bonus Act ; [h] The Disabilities Act and [i] The Minimum Wages Act respectively from the dates of their joining [ix] a direction be issued to increase the special pay/risk allowances to the Sewer -Workers keeping in view the nature of their work ; [x] the Respondents be further directed to ensure that medical and industrial waste is properly treated before its discharge in the sewage. Interim directions for comprehensive medical check -up and treatments etc. have also been sought.
(2.) NOTWITHSTANDING the prohibition on the age -old practice of 'manual scavenging' imposed under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines [Prohibition] Act, 1993 or abolition of the social -slur of 'untouchability' by Article 17 of our Constitution, the sewage -cleaning work in India is being described as a modern day extension of those socially abhorrent practices. The expression 'sewage' is used for waste water containing solid and liquid human excreta derived from residential or non -residential areas and carried in sewer lines. It is other than 'sullage' which contains wastes from the house -hold sinks and showers but not the toilets. Earlier, the human waste used to be disposed of in cess pools or privies or carried in buckets to rivers. The garbage used to be dumped into the streets only or a little away to be flushed out in the rainy season or by storm. Such like unsanitary conditions resulted in objectionable sights and odours and caused diseases which led to the conceptualization and installation of a 'separate pipe system' for carrying human waste to be dumped into nearby fields or rivers. Since the untreated human waste dumped in the fields or rivers cause pollution to the sorrounding areas including the ground water, the Sewerage Treatment Plants are now being established as the only effective answer to these alarming problems. No matter, whether the sewerage waste is carried to the fields or rivers or to the Sewerage Treatment Plants for its ultimate disposal, the sewage system consisting underground pipes or drainage for carrying the sewage have its own complexities. There can indeed be no denial of the fact that the sewerage network in urban areas is meant for the disposal of domestic as well as industrial effluents which include solid waste, manure as also the storm water. The studies have revealed that the domestic, as well as, the Industrial Effluents generate poisonous gases like Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulphide, Methane, Amonia etc. in the drainage. Hydrogen Sulphide gas is reportedly the most dangerous as a breath or two in the air containing even a fraction of it, can make a person unconscious and the continuous exposure thereof can certainly prove fatal. It would be far away from the truth if denied that most of the Municipalities are not equipped with the latest machines to clean sewage system and manual workers are, therefore, employed under compulsion to enter the underground sewerage lines through the manholes and cleanse them wherever the lines are clogged for whatever reason.
(3.) ON a plain reading of the averments made in this petition which are duly supported by a report on "Health and Sewerage Studies of Sewerage Workers in Delhi" by the Centre for Education and Communication, various news items reporting deaths of Sewerage Workers in different municipal areas of Punjab as also the information received by the Petitioners under the Right to Information Act, 2005 which confirm the fatal accidents in the sewage cleaning process, it can be noticed in no uncertain terms that the working conditions of those employed for cleaning the underground sewage lines are wholly incompatible with human dignity and hazardous for their health and safety. The study -report clearly suggests that the workers employed for cleaning the drains suffer from high mortality and morbidity due to overexposure to gases, filth etc. at their workplaces. Similarly, the authentic information obtained and placed on record tells the horrifying tales of those poor children of a lessor God who lost their lives inside the manholes, leaving the starving families behind. That apart, many of these workers are not even regularly employed and are working on 'contract' basis. Cuts or injuries eye diseases, skin related ailments or respiratory problems are commonly prevalent among these poor workers, majority of whom belong to the poor strata of society.;