RESPONDING TO Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani’s remarks in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly on Saturday regarding the continuing deaths of sanitation workers by asphyxiation when they are asked to clean gutters, Pradyuman Vaja, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, said that in the previous two years, there had not been a single such case in the work carried out by any government authority in the state.
The Indian Express attempted to reach out to Minister Vaja regarding this matter but he remained unavailable for comment.
Speaking in the Vidhan Sabha on Saturday, Mevani said, “Even today, Valmiki men working as sanitation workers die by asphyxiation in gutters. Today, when technology is so advanced that nobody has to enter a manhole, the government is still not adopting such machines that would stop the Valmiki men from having to enter gutters. When such deaths occur, officials of nagarpalikas are not booked and then trials are not conducted and there are no convictions.”
On the point of the sanitation workers’ deaths, minister Vaja said, “I want to submit that in the work given by the municipal corporations, municipalities and gram panchayat levels, in the past two years, there has not been a single such case. To prevent deaths of sanitation workers, the government uses machinery to clean gutters. The government is also working on the strict implementation of the Manual Scavenging Act.”
In the incident of January 2025, Chirag Kanu Patadiya (18) and Jayesh Bharat Patadiya (28), had entered a manhole — 15 to 20 metres in depth — allegedly without any safety equipment or a rope line. Around 8 am on January 21, 2025, allegedly based on orders from senior Patdi Nagarpalika officials, Chirag, Jayesh and another worker Chetan Manga Patadiya went to the sewage line station near Devotion School in Patdi area for the cleaning work.
Around 11:30 am, while working in the manhole, Chirag and Jayesh fell unconscious after a toxic gas started releasing in the chamber. Chetan, who was outside the manhole, unsuccessfully tried to rescue the men but failed due to the impact of the fumes, following which he called for help, said police. Later, Chirag and Jayesh were taken out from the manhole and taken to a hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival, police said.
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Patdi Nagarpalika Chief Officer Mausam Patel; Sanitary Inspector Harshad and contractor Patel were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder among other charges, including those under the BNS, The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as well as the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act. The FIR, filed on the basis of a complaint filed by Jayesh’s uncle Baldev Jayanti Patadiya, stated that Chirag, Jayesh and Chetan — all residents of Valmiki Vaas in Surendranagar’s Patdi — are contractual sanitation workers.
In February 2025, the Gujarat High Court refused to quash the case against them.
Speaking to The Indian Express on Saturday, DySP Jugal Purohit of Surendranagar Police, the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, confirmed that the accused persons had been placed under arrest, the chargesheet had been filed against all of them, but the trial is yet to begin. Meanwhile, the families of the victims have been handed over the compensation given by the state government.
‘Untouchability stain is still here’
Jignesh Mevani on Saturday also raised the issue of the prevalence of “untouchability” in rural areas. He said, “It will be 10 years since the Una incident this year. And it will be 100 years to the Mahad satyagraha too. And yet, the stain of untouchability has not left Gujarat. I have made a representation several times that the state government should declare a village of its choice untouchability-free and then commit to do so in all villages of the state. The government has never shown any such commitment in so many years and the social justice department also ddoes not run any campaign to this effect.”
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On the measures to combat untouchability, the minister said, “We are promoting inter-caste marriages, victims of atrocities are given financial aid and rehabilitation, police protection and benefits of welfare schemes of the government. There are surveillance and monitoring committees at the taluka level and awareness is being raised on these issues.”
Una victims yet to get justice: Mevani
Mevani said, “Former CM Anandiben Patel had visited the Una victims and told them that they would get farmland, jobs, and their case would be heard in a fast-track court. But 10 years later, they have not got justice, the trial is still not over and the victims have neither received farmland nor jobs that were promised by the government. In Thangadh, youths were shot in the chest, and today, it is 13 years, their families have still not received justice. In Patan, there was encroachment on land by anti-social elements. Bhanubhai Vankar self-immolated to bring attention to this issue and yet, even today, more than 20,000 bighas of land given to the Dalit people, of their ownership, and without dispute, and still this land is not mapped, not handed over to them and there is no action against the anti-social elements who have encroached on this land. This is an offence under the BNS, under the Atrocity Act and now even under the land grabbing act. But none of this is used to help Dalits get their land back.”
To this, the minister said, “In all these cases, the CM, ministers and senior officials met the victims, suspended police personnel, aid was given to victims and the investigation handed over to CID Crime. In the Patan incident, Rs 8.25 lakh aid was given to the family and the heir was given a transfer in a government job as a special case.”
