The current profiled Sewer and Septic Tank Workers in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across India, is 57,758. Sewer and Septic Tank cleaning work is an occupation-based activity rather than caste based. The category-wise composition of the validated Sewer and Septic Tanks Workers (SSWs) under ‘National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE)’ scheme in States/UTs are as under:

 

Caste/Category	No. of SSWs	%age
General	4,391	8.05
OBC	8,587	15.73
SC	37,060	67.91
ST	4,536	8.31
Grand Total	54,574

 

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in convergence with Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with an objective to ensure safety and dignity to Safai Karmacharis and to empower them socially and economically has formulated the NAMASTE scheme, which was launched in 2023-24 for its implementation in all 4800+ ULBs of the country. The status of NAMASTE scheme is as under:

 

• 57,758 Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs) have been profiled and out of which 54,574 have been validated across 33 States/UT. For Odisha and Tamil Nadu, the process for integrating available data into central NAMASTE data base has been initiated.

• Total 16,791 PPE kits and 43 Safety Devices Kit for Emergency Response Sanitation Units (ERSUs) have been supplied.

• Ayushman cards have been made available to 13,604 beneficiaries.

• Capital Subsidy of Rs.13.96 crores released to 503 sanitation workers and their dependents for sanitation related projects.

• Capital Subsidy of Rs. 2.85 crores released for 226 beneficiaries and their dependents belonging to Manual Scavenger category under NAMASTE to take up alternate self-employment projects.

• 837 workshops have been conducted on Prevention of Hazardous Cleaning of Sewer and Septic Tanks in Municipal Corporation/Municipality/Nagar Palika and other such organization engaging Sewer and septic tank cleaning workers since FY 2023-24.

 

In addition, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has issued comprehensive advisories and guidelines to all States and UTs from time to time on safety procedures for maintaining sewers and septic tanks, ERSUs set up and machinery requirements. Under the SBM-U 2.0, MoHUA has sanctioned Rs. 371 crores to 26 States/UTs for procuring desludging vehicles. 2,585 desludging vehicles have been sanctioned so far.

This information was provided by UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT, SHRI RAMDAS ATHAWALE, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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VM

(Lok Sabha US Q3453)

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