86 died of asphyxiation due to manual scavenging in state since 2020: Report

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Despite enough awareness of the implications of manual scavenging and the lack of ability to crack down on it has claimed as many as 86 lives since 2020 in Karnataka, according to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis.

Satyappa, 40, and Mylappa, 45, were the most recent to have got asphyxiated to death while cleaning a sewer in Karnataka’s Devangere. The duo died while cleaning a tank and the Karnataka Safai Karamchari says they were non-conservancy workers. It is alleged that the duo entered the tank without safety gear and died while on the way to a hospital.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a manual scavenger from Tamil Nadu said that most of these workers are not provided with safety gear and perish to toxic gases as they go inside a sewer to clean it.