On Saturday, Joy and two other contract workers were engaged in clearing the Pazhavangadu Canal (Amayizhanjan Canal), near Thampanoor Railway Station, in Thiruvananthapuram. The 140-meter tunnel, filled with garbage, plastic wastes, and sludge, runs under the Railway Station.
Joy, aged 47, hailing from Marayamattom, went for the contract job from Railways for a wage of Rs.1500 a day. However, on the fateful day, the flow in the canal rose due to heavy rains. While Joy’s co-workers managed to exit the canal, he got swept deep inside, failing to grasp the rope his mates threw at him.
Rescue Efforts
Soon, the Kerala Fire and Rescue Department (KFRD) joined hands with a 30-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team to rescue Joy. Genrobotics and Innovation offered its Bandicoot rover to clear the sludge. The rescue attempt was not easy. KFRD General Secretary K Padmakumar told the media that decades-old hardened sludge, solidified inside, is hampering the operation. A look at it would tell how untreated water from neighboring housing colonies and plastic wastes strewn by people visiting local shops choke the canal. Padmakumar, on Sunday, said the team’s scuba divers could reach only 60 meters.
The state health department brought in its team, with basic life-saving equipment, as standby, for the rescue workers. Addressing media personnel, Minister Sivankutty said, it’s tough for the divers to stay inside the slimy muck-filled canal for long, and preventive medications were provided to them at regular intervals.
The Blame Game
The Minister and City Mayor Arya Rajendran blamed the Railways for the mishap, stating the canal comes under the Railways and the civic body was not getting a go-ahead for clearing it. However, Railway officials retaliated saying the job of sanitation is vested with the civic body and they never halted any efforts. Meanwhile, the State Human Rights Commission took suo moto cognizance of the situation and asked the District Collector and Municipal Corporation to offer clarification.
The Fateful End
On Sunday night, a team of Indian Navy from Kochi joined the rescue efforts. With the canal flushed out, a body believed to be Joy’s was recovered at Thakaraparambu-Vanchiyoor, 1 km from the canal, on Monday morning. Relatives and colleagues identified it as the mortal remains of Joy, bringing the two-day extensive rescue operation to a tragic end.
There Are Many Like Joy
Like Joy, 5 million Indians are engaged in sanitary work across urban centers of the country, according to a 2018 Dalberg Associates study. In 2019, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment revealed that 54,130 human scavengers work in 18 Indian States, with one dying in five days while working. Incidentally, they all belong to one community, the families of which have been pressed into this undignified labor for centuries. Will their lives ever change? When will we wake up to tragedies like Joy’s, bring a massive societal change, and responsibly dispose of waste?
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