Gandhian Gujarat still sees nightsoil on head
The inhuman practice of carrying human excreta on the head by safai kamdars has been abolished by law. But this practice still flourishes in parts of the city.

The AMC safai kamdars have to collect human excreta from slums and chawls and carry it to some distance for disposal.

Safai kamdar association members say that though the old dabba toilets have been abolished from the city, in some areas safai kamdars still carry human excreta from outside the AMC’s public toilets where defecation is usually done outside the toilets as large number of people have to wait before they can use the toilets which are limited in number. This problem is acute in areas surrounding chawls. Safai kamdars have no option but to gather and collect the excreta. This however is in clear violation of the Safai Kamdar Employment and Dabba Toilet (abolition) Act 1993 of the Central government, he said.

The Act says that those found to be employing people or forcing them to do such jobs would be liable for one year imprisonment and fine of Rs 2,000.

General secretary of the union of class four employees of AMC Dinkar Bhatt said it is shameful that this practice is being carried out by the AMC even after 50 years of Independence. "The officials are hiring the safai kamdars on contract to do this work. This practice should be abolished considering the health of the safai kamdars," he added.

According to safai kamdar association members, the practice is prevalent in at least 27 areas of the city. The areas where large chunks of public toilets or slums exist are Chamanpura, Kankaria, Behrampura, Saraspur, Potalia, Navrangpura, Raikhad, Dudheshwar, Shahpur, Dariapur, Navrangpura and Paldi.

The safai kamdar association has pleaded for gloves and other proper tools to clean the excreta outside the public toilets. "However, the cash strapped AMC does not bother to provide any tools to safai kamdars and forces them to carry out the practice of removing the human excreta with bare hands," the association said.

Sewage committee chairman of the AMC Karshan Mundhva said more than four lakh people in Ahmedabad defecate in open every day. "Facility of public toilets is not enough so people have no option but to sit out in the open", he said.

Medical officer of health in AMC P K Makwana said it is wrong to say that the safai kamdars are forced to clean nightsoil with their hands. "But open defecation around public toilets of AMC has to be cleaned. We have planned to stop the people from defecating out in the open by educating them and also decided to involve NGO’s in the scheme.

Municipal commissioner R K Tripathi said he has decided to send a team to check out work being done by the safai kamdars in slum and chawl areas. Once the team comes back we will try to find a solution to the problem, he added.

Republished from The Asian Age