Workers enter manholes sans safety gear

Punjagutta: Even after many deaths resulted while cleaning manholes and tall claims were made to provide protective gear for sanitation workers, but still it is found that manual scavengers are risking their lives by entering manholes without any safety mechanism.

Three daily wage workers – shirtless and only in shorts - were found removing silt from a choked manhole at Punjagutta on Wednesday. While one man entered the manhole, risking the fact that many toxic chemicals have snuffed out lives, and put silt in a bucket which is given to second man sitting atop the manhole.

The men exchanged their roles as per the need. The scavengers were exposed to the filth and foul smell which could easily prove hazardous to their heath. The unhygienic material can cause skin diseases and many more. The Water Board seems comfortable in getting the work done by daily wagers without providing any safety gear to them. The question is how many more lives of manual scavengers have to be sacrificed for the authorities to wake up to the fact that even their lives are
precious.