'Stop Killing Us’: Protesters Accuse Govt of Hiding 261 Sewer & Septic Tank Deaths

New Delhi: Safai Karmacharis from more than 10 states, families of those killed in sewers and septic tanks, Members of Parliament, civil society members, writers and students gathered in the capital on Tuesday to condemn the continuing illegal practice of forcing people into cleaning sewers and septic tanks and the deaths that follow.

The protest, organised by Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), focused on a sharp discrepancy in official data. On 21 July, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale informed Parliament that 332 people had died in sewer and septic tank accidents between January 2021 and June 2026. SKA’s own compilation for the same period puts the number at 593. The organisation says the government has under-reported and effectively hidden 261 deaths.

According to SKA, 113 people have already been killed in sewers and septic tanks in the first 207 days of 2026, including 15 deaths in July month alone. “It is criminal and shameless of the government to so blatantly hide such a large number of deaths, hiding and making 261 persons and their families invisible,” the organisation stated.

SKA has submitted the data to Members of Parliament and urged them to raise the issue in the House. The group has called the under-reporting a matter of national shame and an act of untouchability, arguing that instead of stopping the deaths the government is focused on obscuring the truth.

The organisation has demanded:

1. A Parliamentary Standing Committee inquiry into sewer and septic tank deaths, with the government required to submit annual reports to Parliament on deaths, prosecutions, compensation and rehabilitation.

2. A time-bound national plan for the immediate end to sewer and septic tank deaths.

3. Recognition that the NAMASTE scheme has failed to prevent these deaths, and an acknowledgement of the sharp rise in fatalities even after the scheme was introduced.

National Convenor Bezwada Wilson said the Prime Minister must acknowledge the failure and take immediate action. The gathering ended with the call “#STOP KILLING US”.

SKA has described the continuing practice as illegal and has linked the high death toll to the persistent caste-based nature of the work, despite laws prohibiting manual scavenging.