Editor,
The deaths of four labourers from South Salmara-Mankachar inside a septic tank at Rangdokram in South Garo Hills on September 27 should force the Meghalaya Government to confront an uncomfortable question: are existing sanitation-safety laws being enforced on the ground?
The tragedy reportedly involved suspected exposure to toxic fumes specially hydrogen sulphide inside an underground septic tank. The exact cause remains under investigation. It comes soon after five people died in a separate confined-space fume incident at Lapalang, Shillong. Together, these incidents underline the dangers faced by workers entering poorly ventilated confined spaces.
The legal framework is already substantial. Section 7 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 prohibits hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. In Dr. Balram Singh v. Union of India (2023), the Supreme Court fixed ₹30 lakh compensation for deaths during sewer cleaning and directed comprehensive rehabilitation and accountability, including where sanitation work is outsourced.
The Union Government has reported 332 sanitation-worker deaths during hazardous sewer and septic-tank cleaning between January 2021 and June 2026. This is therefore not merely a localised problem.
Meghalaya should now undertake a 90-day Sanitation Safety Audit, initially covering schools, hospitals, hostels, government buildings and high-risk residential clusters. The Urban Affairs Department, already designated as the State’s NAMASTE nodal mechanism, should coordinate with Deputy Commissioners, District Councils and competent local authorities to examine septic-tank design, ventilation, access, maintenance and desludging arrangements against applicable building regulations and technical standards.
The answer cannot be to send workers into these tanks with improvised equipment. Mechanised desludging, worker registration, PPE, gas detection, emergency-response teams, insurance and safety training must become routine. Traditional institutions, Dorbar Shnongs and community organisations can assist with awareness and reporting, but enforcement remains a State responsibility.
For the four deceased workers, the State must establish who engaged them, whether the work was contracted, what safety measures were provided, whether an FIR has been registered, and whether the Supreme Court’s ₹30-lakh compensation framework is being honoured.
A septic tank is designed to contain waste—not to become a worker’s coffin.
Shahin Yusuf
Guwahati, Assam
