Four workers died cleaning a hotel’s waste chamber in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, on 31 October 2026. Two others who tried to rescue them fell ill.

An analysis argues that India must remove the situations that lead to such deaths, despite laws, court orders and schemes.

• Deaths continue: The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) reports 31 deaths in sewers and septic tanks in 2026 so far, 51 in 2025 and 54 in 2024. About 1,289 deaths were recorded between 1993 and 2024.
• Official claim: Since at least 2021, the government has said that manual scavenging (cleaning human waste from insanitary latrines) has been eliminated.
• Effect: This can make officials less urgent about inspecting municipalities and private establishments, where sewer and septic tank deaths still happen.

• Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993: The first law against manual scavenging.
• Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013: Bans insanitary latrines, manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective gear and safety devices. It treats hazardous cleaning as separate from manual scavenging, but still prohibits it, and provides for rehabilitation.
• Constitution: Article 17 abolishes untouchability, Article 21 protects life with dignity, and Article 23 bars forced labour.

• Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India (2014): Ordered rehabilitation and compensation of ₹10 lakh for each death.
• Dr. Balram Singh v. Union of India (2023): Raised compensation to ₹30 lakh for a death, at least ₹20 lakh for permanent disability and ₹10 lakh for other disability. It said outsourced sewer cleaning must not involve workers entering sewers.
• 2025: A direction to end manual sewer cleaning in six metropolitan cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad).

• Rule-breaking: Contractors and civic bodies break the rules, hiring undocumented daily-wage workers to avoid liability.
• Insecure work: No formal employment or social security for these workers.
• Caste: Members of historically marginalised castes are over-represented in these jobs.
• Noxious gases: People entering sewers and tanks face toxic gas risk.
• Scheme gap: Gap between aims and outcomes under the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme, which is centred on urban local bodies. It tends to distribute kits and administrative help, rather than minimise the situations in which workers can die.

• Dignity and equality: Preventable deaths of marginalised workers raise questions under Articles 17 and 21.
• Accountability: Strong laws mean little without inspection and prosecution.

• Weak data and under-reporting.
• Slow compensation and little prosecution.
• Informal labour and caste-linked occupations.
• Limited use of machines by smaller towns and private establishments.