498 Workers Died During Sewer and Septic Tank Cleaning from 2019 to 2026
According to central government data, 498 workers died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2026. None of these deaths have been linked to manual scavenging.
Translated from the Hindi original · translation AI-generated
According to data presented by the central government in the Lok Sabha, 498 workers died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2026. The highest number of deaths occurred in 2019, with 132 fatalities. This was followed by 34 deaths in 2020, 62 in 2021, 88 in 2022, 65 in 2023, and 54 in 2024. In the first six months of 2026, there were 16 deaths. However, not all of these deaths have been reported as related to manual scavenging.