India: 340 Died Cleaning Sewers In Last 5 Years

 The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry on Tuesday said a total of 340 workers have died while cleaning sewers in the last five years.

The response was give against a question posed at Lok Sabha today, where Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale shared the number of deaths recorded in states and UTs in the last five years.

The data mentioned that the highest number of deaths have been registered in Uttar Pradesh (52), followed by Tamil Nadu (43), Delhi (36), Maharashtra (34) and Gujarat and Haryana both at 31.

Athawale was quoted saying in a PTI report, "a national policy for mechanised sanitation ecosystem has been formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation which envisages appointment of responsible sanitation authority in every district, setting up of sanitation (SRU) response unit in each municipality and 24×7 helpline to receive complaints regarding blockage of sewers and septic tanks among others".