NEW DELHI: Though Delhi suffered septic tank death of three workers happened on 26th June.Manual scavenging remained in practice near Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi, where a team of workers from six states cleared a clogged drain despite it being strictly illegal in India.

The work continued on the ground in Delhi despite dialogues from the govt, even though a nationwide ban existed under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, and directives from the Supreme Court of India explicitly halted manual sewer cleanings in metropolitan hubs like Delhi.

Subhash, the head of the team of manual scavengers from Aligarh, said, “We have been here for two months and will be here until the monsoon ends. This work was given to us by a contractor for a civic agency”

A total of 14 scavengers worked on about 30 feet of a clogged tunnel under the road.

Ankit Narayan, a scavenger from Prayagraj, looked at his dirty Kolhapuri chappal and said a dialogue from guru Amitabh Bachchan’s film Suhaag: ” ye wo kolhapuri chappal hain, dekhne main nau, par phatke main sau,”.

The workers were employed on a daily wage basis at Rs 400.

Under the leadership of Uttar Pradesh’s Subhash, Pappu from Haryana, Bihar’s Rinku, Ajit Yadav of Odisha, and Chotu from Chhattisgarh already cleaned the drains of R.K.Puram, Sarita Vihar, and Old Delhi.