These students found a cost-effective solution to manual scavenging with the 'Sewage Squad'

A team of five students of Shiv Nadar School has come up with a lightweight, cost-effective and technologically advanced sewer cleaner called 'Sewage Squad'. Know all about their journey here.

A team of five students of Shiv Nadar School, a not-for-profit initiative of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, have come up with a lightweight, cost-effective and technologically advanced sewer cleaner that can do away with the dehumanising practice of manual scavenging that still causes several deaths in India every year.

The ‘Sewage Squad’ can cut through the sludge and pump out sludge from the sewers. It uses a camera and a LED light and even have a gas-detection system to identify noxious fumes and ensure proper protection.

It is compact and lightweight which will allow it to be used in narrow alleyways where heavy-grade sewage-cleaning machines cannot operate.

The innovation is an outcome of the Capstone Project at Shiv Nadar School, where students are encouraged to ideate and devise economically viable and creative solutions to address real-world problems.

In November 2020, the central government amended the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, making mechanized sewer cleaning compulsory.

Manual scavenging was made illegal in India decades ago, but the practice still continues rigorously due to the lack of adequate alternatives and access to cheap labour that nevertheless is a major health hazard.