Septic tanks have turned 'gas chambers' for workers: Shiv Sena
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday expressed concern over the death of sanitation workers in septic tanks and rued that neither the administration nor the society is sensitive towards their plight.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, heading the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, noted that despite the prevailing "clamour for cleanliness", its not clear if anyone realises the sense of anger in families of sanitation workers who lose their lives while cleaning septic tanks or sewers.
The party made the remarks in the editorial of its mouthpiece 'Saamana' after three sanitation workers died due to suffocation after getting trapped in a septic tank they were cleaning in the premises of a residential high-rise in suburban Govandi on Monday.
The Sena alleged neither the administration nor the society is sensitive towards the fact that cleanliness has become 'Yamdoot' (messenger of death as per Hinduism) for the "true ambassadors of cleanliness", the sanitation workers.
The Marathi daily noted not only in Mumbai, such deadly incidents have occurred in Thane, Kalyan and Nashik in Maharashtra and in other states like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, too.
Stating that septic tanks and manholes on roads have become "gas chambers" for sanitation workers, the Sena said, "Everyone, from the government to the society, has become proponents of cleanliness.
"But the same cleanliness has become Yamdoot for the sanitation workers who are the true ambassadors of cleanliness. But neither the administration nor the society is sensitive towards (the issue of their safety)."
Many people have lost their lives after slipping into open manholes on roads in Mumbai and its surrounding areas in the last few years.
The publication asked whether anyone will be able to fathom the anger and agony of families of sanitation workers who die in such unfortunate incidents.
The Sena, which also rules the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), did not name or specify any campaign as it talked about "clamour for cleanliness".
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a nation-wide cleanliness campaign, is one of the key initiatives launched by the Modi government after it first assumed office in 2014.
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SC to hear pleas for reviewing wages of priests, temple staff
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the wages and other benefits given to priests, 'sevadars' and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, seeks directions to the Centre and states to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the remuneration and other benefits given to the priests and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
"Petitioner also seeks a declaration that priests and temple staff are employee' under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019. Petitioner submits that once the State assumes the administrative, economic and financial control over temples, an employer-employee relationship arises and denial of dignified wages to priests and temple staff violates the right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21," it said.
Upadhyay said the cause of action accrued on April 4, when he went to Varanasi to attend a public programme and after performing 'Rudrabhishek' in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is controlled by the state, he came to know that even the minimum wages to live with dignity are not given to the priests and temple staff.
"Recently, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, priests and temple staff organised a large-scale protest demanding the minimum wages. Priests and temple staff are not getting even the minimum wage prescribed by the State for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. This is a systemic exploitation. State is acting as a model employer through the endowments department, but violating the minimum wages Act and the directive principles of state policy (Article 43)," it said.
The plea further said the continued refusal to meet the minimum wages with the 2026 inflation-adjusted cost of living index has forced the petitioner to seek judicial intervention to prevent the further marginalisation of priests and temple staff.
Upadhyay further said the precarious nature of livelihood was starkly exposed on February 7, 2025, when a Tamil Nadu department issued a circular at the 'Dandayuthapani Swami Temple' in Madurai, strictly prohibiting priests from accepting 'dakshina' in 'aarti plates'.
"It is necessary to state that priests in such temples often receive no formal salary from the State and rely entirely on 'Dakshina'; the State's administrative order directly threatened them with starvation. Although withdrawn due to public outrage, the incident highlights the State's arbitrary power over the survival of the priests. This is also a bitter truth that States are controlling lakhs of temples but not a single mosque or church," the PIL claimed.
The petition, alternatively, sought direction to the Centre and states to take appropriate steps for the welfare of priests, sevadars and other temple staff in the spirit of the Allahabad High Court's earlier judgments.
