Last weekend, Manjunath, 33, a manual scavenger from Davanagere in central Karnataka, found himself among engineers and enthusiasts looking for solutions to the unhygienic conditions sanitary workers face. It was a hackathon at Bangalore바카라s Indian Institute of Science, where, based on the experiences Manjunath and his co-workers recounted, the ideas ranged from safety gear to sensors for toxic fumes. Manjunath cleans pit Âlatrines and drains in his shorts and a loincloth. 바카라We shouldn바카라t be doing this, but who will feed us then?바카라 he asks. 바카라We have been doing this all our lives.바카라
Manjunath reckons there are about 50 manual scavenging workers in Davanagere. Usually, he works in a team of six or seven who share the wages바카라Rs 700-1,000, depending on the size of the toilet pit. Each job takes a few hours in unbearable stench. 바카라We drink so we cannot smell anything,바카라 he says. On an average, they clean two pits a day. At the end of the workday, which sometimes stretches till midnight, he would have spent about Rs 200 on brandy, often leaving only Rs 150-200 to take back home.
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New localities have sewage pipelines, but sewer-cleaning machines too have limitations. 바카라Who will take the silt out?바카라 he asks. In the villages, where he sometimes works, the team typically cleans up a pit, fills the nightsoil in a drum and takes it by tractor to the farms. 바카라Rich people call us to clean up when there is something they won바카라t touch. In this work, there will be disease and health problems, and we can바카라t do anything about it,바카라 says Manjunath, adding that he knows there바카라s enough money with the government for their rehabilitation, 바카라but we get no benefits바카라. His hopes are on getting some aid in order to make a fresh start in another line of work. 바카라We바카라ll do something else...become a vegetable vendor, or start a kirana shop. We could do some business바카라Šanything to leave this job,바카라 he says.
N. Rangaswami, another sanitary worker from Davanagere, explains why a way out has been difficult. 바카라People doing this job have the identity stuck to them. Customers come looking for us,바카라 he says.
