Despite SC Ban, 546 Sanitary Workers Continue Manual Scavenging in Nagpur Sanitary worker Suresh Wankhede, who descended into a manhole to clear a blockage in Nagpur on April 21, is not an isolated case. He is among 546 workers routinely exposed to hazardous conditions to maintain the city’s sewer network. The practice persists despite a Supreme Court directive that strictly prohibits manual entry into sewers without safety measures. Gaps in infrastructure, limited mechanisation, and a civic system reliant on human labor have perpetuated the issue. Recent incidents reported by The Times of India have highlighted this contradiction, with officials admitting that many manholes cannot be cleaned mechanically and workers entering without safety gear. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has deployed 546 sanitary workers across its zones to address sewer blockages, particularly in areas beyond the reach of machines. Each zone employs around 50 workers tasked with clearing blocked lines in narrow lanes, encroached conservancy paths, and densely populated neighborhoods. While mechanisation is often touted as a solution, its implementation remains limited. The NMC currently operates 15 suction-cum-jetting machines: 7 hired on rent by the solid waste management department, 8 funded by the state government, and 5 managed by the corporation’s workshop department (down from 9 after older units were scrapped). Even where machines exist, their effectiveness is constrained. Only a few small-capacity vehicles can navigate inner lanes, and these fail in extremely narrow stretches between houses. In such cases, pipes are extended up to 40 feet—beyond which manual intervention becomes unavoidable.#the_times_of_india #nagpur_municipal_corporation #mayor_neeta_thakre #sanitary_worker_suresh_wankhede #shivaji_nagar_incident
