The Madras High Court on Tuesday took serious note of incidents of manual scavenging reported recently inside the University of Madras campus as well as in Mannargudi municipality in Tiruvarur district. It warned of severe repercussions if such incidents continue to get reported in violation of the court orders.
Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu passed the interim orders after Senior Counsel Srinath Sridevan, representing Safai Karamchari Andolan, told the court there did not appear to be an end to manual scavenging despite numerous court orders and a central law prohibiting it.
Advocate Krishna Ravindran, representing Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), told the court two men had indeed been made to enter a three feet deep sewer chamber near the university canteen to clear the empty bottles that had clogged the drain on August 4.
The court was informed the university Registrar had lodged a police complaint in this regard against those responsible for the incident. In so far as the Mayiladuthurai incident was concerned, State Government Pleader P. Muthukumar sought time to get instructions from the municipality commissioner.
The judges also directed CMWSSB to obtain the views of the petitioner organisation before implementing the scheme of turning sanitary workers into sanipreneurs since it was reported that the poor workers were apprehensive of taking bank loans to purchase machines and participate in the tenders floated by the board.
They also called for complete details of the scheme by the next hearing in October.
