“As Prime Minister, ackowledge this failure, make a national apology and take immediate action”, Safai Karmachari Andolan said in a memorandum to the Prime Minister.

New Delhi, August 4: Hundreds of sanitation workers from more than 10 states, families of those killed while cleaning sewers and septic tanks, Members of Parliament, students, writers, and civil society activists gathered at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday under the banner of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) — a movement for elimination of manual scavenging — to demand an end to sewer and septic tank deaths accusing the Union government of suppressing the actual number of deaths.

Organised under the slogan #STOPKILLINGUS, the protest condemned what SKA described as the government’s continued apathy towards the illegal practice of sending workers into sewers and septic tanks, resulting in preventable deaths. The organisation alleged that the Centre was attempting to disguise these deaths as ordinary workplace accidents instead of recognising them as consequences of an unlawful and caste-based practice.

Submitting a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, SKA questioned the discrepancy between the government’s figures and its own documentation. It pointed out that while the Union government informed Parliament that 332 people had died in sewer and septic tank incidents between January 2021 and June 2026, SKA’s documentation, supported by verified media reports, recorded 593 deaths between January 2021 and July 2026.

“How did 593 deaths become 332? Where have you hidden the remaining 261 persons who were killed?” the memorandum asked, accusing the government of concealing deaths instead of preventing them.

According to SKA, its records show 47 deaths in 2021, 93 in 2022, 102 in 2023, 117 in 2024, and 121 in 2025. In 2026 alone, 113 people have already died between January and July, including 15 deaths in July.

The organisation argued that these fatalities cannot be described as accidents but are the result of illegally employing workers to enter hazardous sewers and septic tanks without adequate protection. It stated that such deaths violate Articles 14, 17, and 21 of the Constitution, relating respectively to equality before law, the abolition of untouchability, and the right to life.

SKA criticised the Union government’s NAMASTE Scheme, claiming that it had failed to prevent sewer and septic tank deaths despite being introduced to mechanise sanitation work and eliminate hazardous manual cleaning. It argued that the continuing rise in fatalities demonstrates the scheme’s failure to address the problem.

The protest also highlighted that SKA had earlier submitted memoranda to the Prime Minister on 25 March 2025 and 25 March 2026, but had received no response.

On 1 August, during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, the organisation also submitted a memorandum to Members of Parliament, urging them to intervene.

Among its key demands, SKA called for:

• A national apology from the Prime Minister acknowledging the government’s failure to stop sewer and septic tank deaths.

• A Parliamentary Standing Committee inquiry into all sewer and septic tank deaths, with annual reports to Parliament on fatalities, prosecutions, compensation and rehabilitation.

• A time-bound national plan to immediately eliminate sewer and septic tank deaths.

• Recognition by the government that the NAMASTE Scheme has failed to prevent these deaths and requires fundamental changes.

Describing the deaths as “a matter of national shame”, the organisation maintained that ending manual scavenging and hazardous sanitation work requires political accountability, strict enforcement of existing laws, and the complete mechanisation of sewer and septic tank cleaning.

The memorandum to the PM is attached below.

All images used are from SKA Facebook page.