Indian municipal waste water disposal system generated a "neo scavengers" of municipal waste water workers/ sewer workers in organised occupations.
Solutions on the rehabilitation of manual scavengers were been enacted with the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 .
Yet our indian municipal waste water disposal managers are not aware on handling the issue of eradication of manual scavenging in municipal waste water disposal systems.
To get rid of manual scavenging, an intresting solution is enactment, practice and enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in India.
Till date no clearcut guidelines and manual on operation and maintenance of sewage and sewerage system is not availble from the apex body CPHEEO and so far no rules and regulations of Municipal Waste Water Disposal (Management and Handling) are notified by Ministry Of Environment and Forest under clause 3 ,6 and 25 of The Environment (Protection) Act . Further we are lacking in employment protection of Occpational Safety and Health Act enactment, enforcement and practice.
Having this above inadequacies of policies and practicess are the case for failure of eradication of manual scavenging in municipal waste water disposal. Owing to these inadequacies inummerable sufferings occuring to Municipal Waste Water Disposal workers, overseers, supervisors, subordinate field engineers and even to all managers of Municipal Waste water disposal occupation.
To get rid of the perils of manual scavenging by municipal waste water workers in municpal waste water dispoasal, it is esssential and inevitable one to enact, enforce and practice OSHAct and Occupational Safety Health Authority.
Advocacy for enact of OSHA is one vital solutions for eradication of manual scavenging. The attached dissertation on "municipal scavenging act and municipal waste water workers in india- policy and practice " discusses the need for the enact and practiceof OSHA in India
Abstract
This Dissertation analyses the “Manual Scavenging Act and Municipal Waste Water Workers in India Policy - Practice”. The historical, national and international context is highlighted as a way to understand policy redirections in the sector. Special focus is put on institutional arrangements with regard to networked, large scale managed sewerage services of The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 , Environment (Protection) Act and National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) etc.,
India’s visionary policy’s and practice on fringe level grassroots manual scavengers and Municipal Waste Water Workers are in peril and failure in attempts of its total eradication , owing to the lack in implementation of globally accepted sanitation laws and Occupational Safety and Health acts etc.,
To begin with, development strategies were largely focused on “filling the gaps” in terms of manpower, technical and financial resources. As the sanitation challenge was increasingly arising as a matter of managing scarcity, a new thinking gradually must be evolved and emerged with significance of relevant environmental protection measures to bring Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) Rules, guidelines and Regulations under Environment (Protection) Act (EPA).
The dissertation concludes that the clear space for policy alternatives in Indian sanitation sector. Therefore, the focus point for successful outcome of Eradication of Manual Scavenging practices of municipal waste water disposal depends on the enactment of O S H Act and Regulations under Environmental (Protection) Act and the support policies, provided to dynamic Indian sanitation disposal methods, further the other necessary points.