HealthPhoto: The HinduIndia Faces Ongoing Deaths of Sanitation Workers in Sewers
Despite laws, Supreme Court orders, and mechanised cleaning technologies, India continues to lose sanitation workers to preventable sewer cleaning deaths. Recently, four workers died in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, while cleaning a hotel’s food-waste chamber. Data shows 859 deaths from 2014 to 2025, with under-reporting suspected. The government claims manual cleaning is eliminated, but the problem persists, especially affecting marginalized castes.
The Hindu··Ujjain

