Last Updated on March 24, 2026 6:57 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
AMN / New Delhi
Safai Karmachari Andolan is organising a protest demonstration and dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on March 25, 2026 against killings taking place in sewers and septic tanks across country. Safai Karmacharis from 10 states, family members of people who died in sewers and septic tanks and activists will take part in the protest. A letter of demands addressed to the Prime Minister will be released in the programme which will call for immediate action to stop sewer deaths.
With deep pain and anguish, Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) states that one person is killed every second day in sewers and septic tanks in this country, but the government is completely silent over this. Amidst the claims of development and making India third largest economy in the world, people from the Safai Karmachari community are forced to go down deadly sewers and get killed. The height of injustice is that instead of being proactive in stopping such deaths, the government’s only concern is about manipulating and minimising official death data. In the year 2025, Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), has recorded a total of 121 people killed in sewers and septic tanks but government figures report only 46 such deaths. Again, in the year 2024, SKA recorded 116 deaths, but government reported only 55 and in 2025, SKA has details of 102 deaths but government figures report only 65 deaths in sewers and septic tanks. Government has repeatedly tabled wrong numbers in the parliament. Why is the government hiding the truth?
This year 2026 has just started, and there have been 41 deaths already in the sewer and septic tanks across country, i.e. 41 killings in 3 months. But instead of stopping the deaths, the government is only focussed on obscuring the truth. It is a matter of national shame. The Prime Minister should acknowledge this failure and issue a national apology.
At the same time, the illegal and inhuman manual scavenging still continues in states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu Kashmir in dry latrines. Despite legal prohibitions, Dalit communities, especially women, are still forced into this degrading work. Ministers of the government are repeatedly making false claims in Parliament that manual scavenging has been eliminated. This is not just misinformation; it is a denial of lived realities and a refusal to ensure justice. SKA has been fighting against this atrocity for last 40 years. We are gathering to raise these issues again at Jantar Mantar on 25th March 2026.