Grievances registration line soon for sanitation workers

The National Commission for Safai Karmacharis (NCSK) will introduce a missed call facility for safai karmacharis to register grievances, vice-chairperson Hardeep Singh Gill said on Friday (August 21, 2026).

He said since taking charge in February this year, he has focused on ensuring prompt compensation for sewer deaths and is engaging with the Labour Ministry to raise the minimum wages of safai karmacharis to be on par with those of skilled or semi-skilled workers.

The missed call facility will launch on NCSK’s foundation day on August 23.

NAMASTE scheme

Mr. Gill said the commission has been looking into several aspects, such as making it easier for safai karmacharis to report complaints, regularising workers engaged on a contract basis, and engaging with various Union Ministries to ensure directives are issued for maintaining dignified and safe working conditions. He also said the panel has taken up work related to the NAMASTE scheme for sewer and septic tank workers.

“The profiling work for sewer and septic tank workers seems to be frozen at around 90,000 workers. This is largely because the State administrations in several places are holding up the validation of these workers. The NCSK is now thinking of recommending a separate mechanism to register sewer workers across the country who are being left out in the NAMASTE profiling,” Mr. Gill said.

In a letter sent to the Labour Minister in May this year, the NCSK asked for safai karmacharis to be paid on par with skilled or semi-skilled workers, requested directions to prevent women cleaning staff from starting their shifts as early as 5 a.m., and sought a secure insurance policy for the workers that recognises the dangers of their occupation, Mr. Gill said.

A NCSK official said the missed call facility will serve as a pilot project to check the volume of grievances, and eventually, a call centre will be set up at the NCSK offices based on this data.