Despite a ban on hazardous cleaning without protective gear, contractors from Delhi’s public works department have employed several workers, including many who claimed to be minors, to desilt rainwater drains manually, without any safety equipment.
At least across four sites in south Delhi – Adchini, Malviya Nagar, Saket and Ber Sarai – where the desilting work is underway, Newslaundry found labourers descending into drains with a hoe in knee-deep sludge, without any rubber boots, hand gloves or body kit, and mostly clothed in their underwear.
