On a dusty road in Southeast Delhi’s Taimoor Nagar, the stench arrives before the scene. Manholes lie prised open, their cement lids on the side, flanked by mounds of thick black sludge.From one of them, Sonu, who goes by only one name, slowly emerges — his thin face rises into the harsh summer sun. His eyes are bloodshot, his hands, holding a muck-covered shovel, are grey and cracked with layers of dried filth. A few flies, drawn by the stench, rest undisturbed on his head.Sonu is just 18 but has spent most of his teenage years waist-deep in drains, pulling out sludge with his bare hands.Also Read | ‘Machines don’t work everywhere’: CM as PWD posts pics of labourers cleaning drain without safety gearWith the monsoon season nearing, civic agencies are racing to finish desilting drains in the national capital by the June 15 deadline. Sonu is amongst those who have been employed for the task by a Public Works Department (PWD) selected concessionaire.Whatever Sonu makes — Rs 500 a day for nearly 8 to 10 hours of work — is barely enough to survive, let alone save. “Kamaate toh ghar pe sab hai, lekin ho nahi paata poora (Everyone at home earns, but it is not enough),” he says with a small smile. “Papa thode khule haath ke hain, toh kuch bachta nahi hai (Dad overspends, so nothing is left).”Sonu claims to have been cleaning drains like this for the last four to five years. He grew up in Meerut, where his parents and nine siblings — five brothers, four sisters — still live. While Sonu’s father is unemployed, his mother cleans houses, and two of his brothers run a vegetable stall. Neither Sonu nor his siblings have ever been to school. In Delhi, he shares a cramped room near the Red Fort with a cousin.On a Thursday last week, he was in and out of the drain since 8 am. The air is sharp with the acrid smell of sewage. The crowd passing the road holds dupattas or the ends of their sarees over their faces. Some avert their gaze entirely.Story continues below this adSonu doesn’t notice — or maybe he’s long stopped caring. In jeans rolled up above his ankle and a tattered black T-shirt, both stained with a mix of wet and dried sludge, he ducks back into the drain. The only “uniform” he has is a neon orange netted jacket handed to him by the private agency. There is no other safety gear — no gloves, boots, or mask.Sonu is just 18 but has spent most of his teenage years waist-deep in drains, pulling out sludge with his bare hands (Express Photo)Inside, the drain is narrow and choked. From it branches an even smaller pipe. Sonu manages to wriggle halfway into it to remove the debris stuck inside — he claws through the sludge with his fingers and pulls it out.Above him, a co-worker — seated on the manhole’s concrete lid — waits to receive the sludge that Sonu scoops with his shovel. He takes the sludge-loaded shovel from Sonu’s hands and dumps it by the road. This cycle continues for hours. Sometimes they take short breaks, sipping water or wiping sweat with the back of their hands.But under the watchful eye of their contractor, who circles from one pothole to another, they don’t stop. The job has to be done, the contractor says. “Jaldi jaldi karo beta, ekdam safa hona chahiye, taaki paani ekdam saaf nikle (Hurry up, it should be absolutely clean so that the water comes out clear),” he instructs Sonu.Story continues below this adJust a few days ago, photos of many workers like Sonu who cleaned drains had surfaced on the official X handle of the PWD last week — a post that has since been deleted following outrage. In the image, labourers were waist-deep in a stormwater drain while carrying out desilting work on a road in Northwest Delhi’s Rohini.The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, bars hazardous cleaning, but there is no specific ban on manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks as long as protective gear is given. The law specifies 44 types of protective gear, including a breath mask, a gas monitor, and a full-body wader suit.On June 6, Bezwada Wilson, founder and national convenor of the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), accused the Delhi government of not just violating the Manual Scavenging Act but also putting the lives of safai karamcharis at risk.“Instead of accepting its criminal mistake and correcting it, the Delhi government is deleting these pictures from the websites of its departments. To expose the government’s lies and present the pathetic condition of safai karamcharis to the world with evidence, a team of the SKA went to different areas of Delhi and surveyed the people cleaning sewers and drains, and took their pictures as evidence,” Wilson says.Story continues below this adResponding to the PWD photo controversy, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had earlier said, “Every drain has its own situation. Machines don’t work everywhere, and people don’t work everywhere… There may be places where machines can’t reach. Right now, the government’s target is to ensure all drains are completely cleaned. Work is being carried out with full attention to the court’s guidelines.”Despite multiple attempts, no response was received from the office of the PWD Minister, Parvesh Sahib Singh.Records show that overall, Delhi ranks fifth on the sewer deaths count nationally — with 116 deaths — since 1993 when a ban was issued on the practice of manual scavenging.Over the past 15 years, a total of 94 people have died cleaning sewers in Delhi. But in 75 of those deaths, for which records are available, only one case has led to justice for the victims in the form of a conviction in court, an investigation by The Indian Express of data obtained under the RTI Act had earlier found.Story continues below this adRecords analysed by The Indian Express had shown that only 9 of the 38 cases filed in connection with these 75 deaths have been disposed of in court, accounting for a total of 19 lives. They include one conviction, acquittal in two cases, two cases quashed by the High Court, a case of compromise, one closure report, and two cases in which the Delhi Police said the accused could not be traced.Back in Taimoor Nagar, Sonu sits for a minute by the side of the road, absent-mindedly rubbing his hands together — this makes the dried sludge crack and fall off in flakes. “Bas thoda aur kaam hai aaj (Just a little more work today),” he says and starts walking toward the next manhole.A swarm of flies lazily circles above the pothole, and Sonu, without gloves, mask, or boots, climbs down into another drain.