Orissa HC seeks record of deaths of sanitation workers in past 28 years

Court takes suo motu cognisance of 2 workers dying of asphyxiation on April 15 and 2 others on March 19

Observing that manual scavenging is a shameful practice that shocks the judicial and collective conscience, the Orissa High Court has sought to know how many sanitation workers have died in the past 28 years and if manual scavengers or sewer workers have been rehabilitated in the State. The court made the observation after taking suo motu cognisance of two sanitation workers dying of asphyxiation in a sewer in Cuttack on April 15 and two others meeting a similar fate on March 19 in Bhubaneswar. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice B. P. Routray directed the government to ensure that compensation of ₹10 lakh each is disbursed to the families of each of the sanitation workers.