Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department has directed the municipal corporation to stop manual cleaning of septic tanks.

The government has also asked the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ensure proper rehabilitation of scavengers in line with the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

The move follows a directive from the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment. The ministry's directive states that the central monitoring committee formed under the act has recommended incorporation of clauses in the tender document mandating use of safety gear and equipment by workmen who clean septic tanks.

Besides, it has also suggested incorporation of a condition in the tender document that makes the contractor responsible to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh in addition to what the state government would give in the event of death of a workman in the septic tank while cleaning without safety gear and devices.

Housing and urban development department sources said the direction would serve the dual purpose of the civic body taking steps to stop manual cleaning of septic tanks and provide adequate training to manual scavengers.

"We have come up with faecal sludge management guideline. It charts out steps to ensure management of sludge and also ensure only mechanised cleaning of the septic tanks. Manual scavengers do not have the expertise and often risk their lives while cleaning such tanks without safety measures," said an official of the department.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they had started registering private operators of cesspool emptier vehicles. "We have already issued a notice asking the operators to abide by the faecal sludge management guidelines. Now we will incorporate the clause that the government has suggested. We will ask the operators to work only with trained scavengers," said the mayor.

The city has not only witnessed an outbreak of jaundice due to faecal contamination of water in 2015, but also deaths of two manual workers engaged in cleaning manholes in Nayapalli last year. The workers died of suffocation inside the manhole and the blame was imposed on the cleaning contractor, investigation revealed later.