Pune: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued a notice to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) over allegations that workers were engaged in manual nullah cleaning ahead of the monsoon, allegedly in violation of prescribed safety and sanitation norms under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act of 2013.The commission acted on a complaint filed by local activist Sagar Charan, who alleged that sanitation workers were being deployed to manually clean drains despite guidelines favouring mechanised cleaning. Taking cognisance of the complaint, the NCSC has sought a detailed report from the civic body and directed it to submit facts and details of action taken within 15 days of receiving the notice.Charan, a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Safai Mazdoor Sangh, alleged that workers were carrying out the cleaning work without adequate safety equipment either.“The workers are not being provided proper safety gears and are being made to undertake hazardous work in violation of established norms,” he said.Charan claimed he had repeatedly raised the issue with civic authorities but saw little change on the ground. “I submitted my complaint to the NCSC on June 10. Even on June 13, I noticed workers manually cleaning drains. This shows that there has been little or no improvement despite repeated complaints,” he said.According to him, manual intervention should be used only in exceptional circumstances where mechanised equipment cannot be deployed. “Advanced machinery is available today and can access even difficult locations. Instead of fully utilising such equipment, workers are being sent into drains for cleaning,” he alleged.Pradip Thengal, deputy municipal commissioner and head of PCMC’s health department, said the civic body was yet to receive the NCSC notice. “We will submit our response once the notice is received,” he added.Senior civic officials maintained that most nullah-cleaning work in the city is being carried out using machines and that manual cleaning is undertaken only at locations inaccessible to machinery.“Necessary safety precautions are being followed during the work. However, certain stretches cannot be reached by machines and require manual intervention,” an official said, refusing to be named.The official added that the corporation has a limited number of specialised machines, including spider machines, which often have to be hired, affecting the pace of work.PCMC officials said the city has 141 nullahs spread across 91.5 km and that more than 90% of the pre-monsoon cleaning work has already been completed, with the remaining work currently under way.
