47 died while cleaning sewers in 2025, says Centre

Forty-seven sanitation workers died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks across India in 2025, the Union government said on Wednesday.

Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of deaths at 10, followed by Haryana with seven and Tamil Nadu with six, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said in response to an MP’s question.

Manual scavenging – the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewer lines or septic tanks – is banned under the 2013 Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act. However, the practice remains prevalent in several parts of the country.

Responding to a question on the effectiveness of existing laws, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said that the scheme was evaluated in 2025. He added that it provides sanitation workers with safety equipment, occupational training, health insurance and financial support to promote mechanisation of the process.

The government said that states and Union Territories have been asked to ensure that the 2013 law is implemented.. It also noted that the Union housing and urban affairs ministry had issued standard operating procedures for cleaning sewers and septic tanks.

In July 2023, the Union social justice ministry’s Central Monitoring Committee claimed that the practice of manual scavenging had been eliminated. The ministry had made the...

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