16 months on, family of manual scavenging victim gets compensation

21-year-old Suraj Raju Madhve’s family on Thursday received ₹10 lakh compensation from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) as mandated under the Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013

Mumbai: Nearly 16 months after he died while cleaning a septic tank at a society, 21-year-old Suraj Raju Madhve’s family on Thursday received ₹10 lakh compensation from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) as mandated under the Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

16 months on, family of manual scavenging victim gets compensation

Suraj died on March 29, 2022, while he along with another worker was engaged in cleaning a septic tank in Grace Square Society at Kousa in Mumbra.

The compensation came after a legal fight by the family of the victim, trade union Shramik Janata Sangh and Thane-based NGO Muse Foundation. “The compensation was blocked as the TMC was demanding an heirship certificate to prove that the family is the rightful heir of the victim. But this certificate takes three to four months to acquire and costs ₹50,000 in lawyer fee,” Shreyas Pande, a writer and representative of the Muse Foundation, said.

They filed a petition in the Bombay high court in October 2022, which resulted in the July 18 order to the civic body not to insist on heirship or succession certificates in cases where there is no dispute in the family. This portion of the order will be applicable to other civic bodies, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The HC gave the TMC a deadline of four weeks to pay the compensation, which was surpassed on August 15.

Suraj was working as a contract labourer with the TMC since 2018, and also worked part time as a cleaner in residential societies. “When the contractor asked my son and another cleaner to go into the septic tank to clean it, he did not even provide a ladder and they were only attached to a rope. They were given no safety belt, helmet or special masks and were made to clean the tank with their bare hands. The supervisor did not even wait around to ensure they were safe,” Raju said. The 15-feet deep septic tank was filled up to the chest.

According to the TMC, the other deceased in the incident, Hanumant Kopadwad, 27, had received the compensation.

“The money does not matter in front of what we have lost. We have lost all our will after my son died,” Suraj’s father Raju Prabhakar Madhve said.

Raju, who used to work as a barber, now works as a cleaner. His wife taught at a school, but stopped after their son’s death. They live in Dombivli and pay ₹11,000 in EMIs. Suraj’s father said that he would use the compensation to pay off the loans.

The petition, however, was not restricted to the Madhve family. It listed 10 other instances of deaths while manual scavenging in which the victim’s families were not paid compensation. “Of them, according to the collector’s office, Rajendra Moji, Surendra Shankar, Devidas Chandrakant Pachge, and Mahadev Dhondiram Zope have also not been paid yet. We will reach out to them and ensure they receive the compensation,” Jagdish Khairaliya, general secretary of the Shramik Janata Sangh, said.

“Chandrakant Rathod and his son Ramesh Chandrakant Rathod, who died in Bhiwandi, have not been paid compensation as the TMC says their deaths do not fall in their jurisdiction. We are disputing this,” he added.

The PIL also highlighted further delays in compensation payouts incurred by a government resolution dated December 12, 2019, which holds private societies responsible for manual scavenging in cases they are the employers and holds them liable to pay the compensation. But, Shreyas pointed out, “The societies are not accountable and there is no one to enforce that they give the compensation.”

He added that if the compensation is not paid by the private society within 30 days, the corporation should grant the immediate assistance of ₹10 lakh to the family of the deceased person and then recover the amount later in the property tax from the establishment.

The next hearing on the petition is scheduled for August 24, in which the last hearing will be reviewed.