The Supreme Court on Friday said that the government authorities will have to pay Rs 30 lakh compensation to families of those who die while cleaning sewer. Taking a grim view of incidents of sewer deaths in the country, it also said that if a person suffers permanent disabilities while cleaning sewer, will be paid Rs 20 lakh as minimum compensation.
SC issues slew of directions on sewer deaths and monitoring of cases, says HCs are not precluded from monitoring.Union and states must ensure manual scavenging is completely eradicated, SC said while dealing with plea on sewer deaths.
The bench comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar noted that that Union and state governments must ensure manual scavenging is completely eradicated.
Pronouncing the judgement, Justice Bhat said the authorities will have to pay up to Rs 10 lakh if the cleaner suffers other disabilities.
Issuing a slew of directions, which were not read out, the bench directed that the government agencies must coordinate to ensure that such incidents do not occur and moreover, the High Courts are not precluded from monitoring the cases related to sewer deaths.
As many as 347 people died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in India in the last five years with Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi accounting for 40 per cent of these deaths, according to government data cited in Lok Sabha in July 2022.
