TN: Sanitary worker seen cleaning sewage with bare hands, notice served to official

The assistant director in charge of the Directorate of Town Panchayaths ( Vellore region) in Tamil Nadu has issued show-cause notices to the executive officer and sanitary supervisor in Tiruvannamalai region after a sanitary worker cleaned sewage with his bare hands.

The incident occurred at Chengam town panchayath in Tiruvannamalai district on Wednesday. A sanitary worker had got down into the open sewage channel and removed a stone that was blocking the flow of sewage in the drain with his bare hands. However sources in the town panchayath told IANS that the sanitary supervisor, A. Sreenivasan had asked the worker not to remove the stone with his bare hands but use gloves but the worker had refused to wear gloves.

Executive officer Uma Maheswari and sanitary supervisor A. Sreenivasan received the notices on Thursday and are required to respond within three days.

Chengam panchayath in Tiruvannamalai district is spread over 18 wards with over 50,000 residents. There are 65 sanitary workers including contract workers from Self Help Groups who are involved in garbage collection and desilting drains in the panchayath.

Following the incident, the Directorate of Town Panchayaths has issued a circular to all the town panchayaths in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, and Tiruvannamalai districts to adhere to norms under the Septage Management Regulations and Operational guidelines 2023 of the Tamil Nadu government.