'The Tech's There, Not The Political Will'

Magsaysay award winner Bezwada ­Wilson has been at the forefront of a spirited campaign for many years, working relentlessly for the total eradication of manual scavenging in the country. In conversation with Giridhar Jha after the recent landfill tragedy at Ghazipur in Delhi, the 51-year-old crusader talks about the civic scenario, death of sanitary workers, the prime minister’s pet Swachh Bharat campaign and the reasons why we, as a nation, have failed to deal with sanitation in a scientific manner.

- Giridhar Jha

A doctor died recently in Mumbai after falling into an open manhole in a floo­ded street. In Delhi, two commuters lost their lives under an avalanche of garbage at the Ghazipur landfill. Isn’t it an alarming situation in urban India?

Garbage disposal is a big issue and an inc­ident like Ghazipur was just waiting to happen. We can reuse the waste. When you quiz the authorities, they say they are using the Japanese technology to make electricity out of it, but actually they are not addressing the issue at all. The heaps of trash keep getting bigger by the day. Millions of people produce garbage every day, but they don’t know how to deal with it. They have to set up a separate research and development unit on garbage disposal, but all they are doing now is to find out ways to avoid payment of ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to those killed at Ghazipur or in other mishaps. Instead of preventing loss of human lives, they want to shift the onus onto the contractors. How can a democratically elected government and a welfare state even think of doing that? There is a scientific way of tackling manholes. The government, as their principal owner, cannot afford to have an escapist attitude when it comes to such issues.

Death of sanitary workers inside sewers has become a routine affair…