NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court asserted that the central and state governments have a responsibility to completely wipe out manual scavenging, which is still continuing despite being banned 10 years ago. A bench consisting of Justice S Ravindra Bhatt and Justice Arvind Kumar also gave guidelines to be followed for the welfare of such workers. The court has given strict instructions for the effective implementation of the Anti-Scavenging and Rehabilitation Act, of 2013. The court took up the case while considering the petition filed by Dr Balram Singh.

The court will review the steps taken by the government to implement the order on February 1. The court said that manual scavengers as a group yet to come out from the shackles of inhuman conditions. The Supreme Court also put the onus on citizens to help bring this rare section of workers to social, political and economic justice.

The court directed the compensation to the families of those who died during scavenging to be Rs 30 lakhs. It will be Rs 20 lakhs in case of permanent disability. Not less than Rs 10 lakhs in case of non-severe disability. Rehabilitation should be ensured for the victim's family. Scholarship and skill development should be ensured as part of the rehabilitation.

According to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, 42303 people were working as manual scavengers in the country till August 2019. The numbers came from the survey conducted in 18 states across the country.