New Delhi – At least 36 sanitation workers lost their lives while cleaning sewers, septic tanks, drains, and sewage chambers across India between March and May 2026, according to a press conference organised by the Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) last week.

The organisation held the meeting at the Press Club of India in New Delhi to highlight what it called the “continuing crisis of manual scavenging,” citing a series of fatal incidents reported from nine states and union territories, including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

According to DASAM, the workers who died belonged mainly to Valmiki and other historically marginalised communities, or were migrant labourers. The organisation stated that nearly all victims were employed through informal contractor arrangements, which often shield municipal bodies, private institutions, and government agencies from accountability.

The press conference noted a recurring pattern in the fatalities, commonly seen in sewer and septic tank accidents across India. In many cases, one worker entered a confined space and collapsed due to toxic gas inhalation or oxygen depletion. Subsequently, other workers entered to attempt a rescue but died from the same unsafe conditions, a sequence DASAM described as a “rescue-chain fatality.”

Specific incidents mentioned during the press conference included:

• Four members of a family dying inside a septic tank in Vaishali, Bihar.

• Three workers dying inside a hospital septic tank in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

• Sewer workers dying during rescue attempts in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

• The death of a contractual sanitation worker in Seemapuri, Delhi, allegedly after being coerced into hazardous open drain cleaning.

• Multiple sewer deaths in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

• Deaths of migrant labourers inside industrial drainage tanks and sewage chambers without protective systems.

Speakers at the event noted that these deaths have occurred despite the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, and repeated Supreme Court directives mandating mechanisation and compensation of Rs 30 lakh for sewer and septic tank deaths.

Dharmendra Bhati, president of the Municipal Workers Lal Jhanda Union (CITU), said at the press conference that while the government claims sanitation work has been mechanised, the ground reality is different. He stated that 15–20 deaths are now being reported monthly, adding that contractual workers for the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) are denied minimum wages, safety equipment, training, and regular health check-ups.

Lawyer Kawalpreet Kaur pointed to the Balram Singh case, in which the Supreme Court increased compensation for sewer deaths to Rs 30 lakh. She questioned why workers are still forced to risk their lives for daily wages of Rs 400–500, describing the circumstances as resembling “conditions of slavery.” She also noted that workers are not receiving minimum wages, which courts have recognised as a form of bonded labour.

Mohsina Akhter, National Coordinator of DASAM, said the 36 deaths in three months expose “the continuing reality of caste-based sanitation labour, institutional negligence, weak enforcement of laws, lack of mechanisation, exploitative contractor systems, and systematic denial of accountability.” She added that Dalit communities, particularly Valmiki and other oppressed caste groups, along with migrant workers, continue to be disproportionately pushed into hazardous sanitation labour.

The press conference demanded immediate criminal accountability for contractors and officials, universal mechanisation of sewer and septic tank cleaning, mandatory confined-space safety protocols, timely compensation and rehabilitation for affected families, and recognition of sewer and septic tank deaths as structural caste violence rather than isolated accidents.

DASAM noted that the union government itself had informed Parliament that 622 sanitation workers died in sewer and septic tank cleaning operations between 2017 and early 2026, and that 317 such deaths occurred between 2021 and 2025. The organisation also stated that as of April 2026, the NAMASTE scheme had profiled 89,248 sewer and septic tank workers, and that 52 affected families had reportedly not received compensation despite Supreme Court directives.