“If someone calls me I’ll still do pit cleaning, otherwise I won’t be able to feed my family due to the impact of COVID,” says Bala (name changed), a former manual scavenger in Karnataka’s Kolar district
He has not received the one-time cash assistance of ₹40,000 that he is entitled to under the Centre's rehabilitation scheme since 2016, when he stopped working as a pit cleaner
Inadequate handholding support and training to move to an alternate livelihood, and bureaucratic hurdles are leaving manual scavengers in precarious financial situations…