Pakistan's sewermen complain of society's degrading behavior more than their work

Darkness eight feet below the ground, dirty water full of human waste coming up to the mouth, rats, red bags and snakes and the stench that makes even breathing difficult.

Have you ever wondered where all the water that flows as soon as you flush the toilet goes away?

It falls into the sewer through the gutter of your house and if it ever closes, a living person like you will come in and clean it.

Today, as man prepares to set foot on Mars and robotics and artificial intelligence challenge his intellect, it is no less a tragedy to see these savages pick up the filth from the human body with their own hands.

Fight to the death

Shafiq Masih, 43, stood on the street, took off his neatly ironed jeans and T-shirt and put on a white shalwar. He put his shoes, mobile phone and wallet on his motorbike and hung his legs on the gutter.

Two companions grabbed his hands and let him down. A sewerman threw down an empty bucket tied with a rope and Shafiq Masih picked up the dirt from the gutter with his hands and started pouring it into the bucket. When the bucket was full, the comrades standing at the top pulled the rope and emptied the bucket and threw it down again.

This outdated sewer cleaning process sometimes lasts for several hours. When Shafiq Masih's work was completed, the companions standing above grabbed his hand and pulled him out. When he regained his breath, he began to wipe the dirt off his body with a cloth.

"No one does it on their own, but they have to do it," he said. Sometimes a person has to do what he does not want to do. Severman embraces the dangers and descends into the gutter. We make a living by fighting death every day.

Toxic gas

But what is it about these gutters that severmen feel like death hovering over their heads at any moment? Marie James Gill, a social worker and former member of the Punjab Assembly, gives the answer."Because sewers contain organic matter, they combine to release dangerous gases such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and carbon monoxide. Sewermen come in direct contact with gases inside the gutter which can be fatal. These gases also cause skin and respiratory diseases. Some sanitary workers have poor eyesight, some have premature graying of their hair and some develop diseases such as hepatitis A and B.The biggest reason for sewer systems to be blocked around the world is the dumping of garbage in them. During his 19 years of service, Shafiq Masih has removed all kinds of garbage from the sewer."People often throw household rubbish, towels, empty bottles and scrap metal down the drain. In addition, waste from hospitals and factories also reaches the sewers. Many times when I went down the gutter, a piece of glass, a needle and a blade got stuck in my hand or foot and I was injured.

Accurate statistics on accidents and deaths of sanitary workers during cleaning work are not available. If you look at the claims of social organizations and the incidents reported in the media, their number is very high.

According to a survey, 40% of sanitary workers say they have had an accident at least once during their work due to a gas leak in the sewer.

According to Shafiq Masih, the majority of sewers have neither safety equipment nor a gas meter to check the amount of gas before landing in the sewer.

"Local authorities provide safety equipment to some sewermen, but it is incomplete, while most workers do not know how to use them properly," he said. We should be given a complete kit of safety equipment (PPE) which includes helmets, safety belts, oxygen cylinders, boots, masks and gloves. In addition, proper tools should be provided to work in the saver.

The sewerage system in South Asia was formed when the flush system was introduced inside the toilets in urban areas during the British rule. Drainage pipelines as well as sewers or gutters and 'manholes' were built in the style of the London-based sewerage system.

The size and structure of the 'manhole' was such that the sewermen could get inside the gutter and clean it by hand. Almost a hundred years later, this system of sewers and sewers still exists today.

Drainage in urban areas of Pakistan is now the responsibility of local bodies and municipalities who employ sewermen or kandimen to maintain the system.

Private housing societies and cantonment boards also run separate sewerage systems. In the villages, this work is done on a private level, but where there is no regular sewerage system, human waste is still picked up and disposed of by hand.

The word that Shafiq Masih has heard the most in his life is 'wide' but what is the meaning of this word and who are these? It also has a history.

Cleaning in the subcontinent has always been associated with caste, but now this distinction has taken on a religious color.

According to historians, the ancestors of most Christians living in Pakistan belonged to the Dalit Hindu caste 'Chuda' who were converted to Christianity by the clergy in the late 19th century. After conversion, these people started working on the lands of Sikh landlords of Punjab.

When the subcontinent was divided and the Sikhs left Pakistan, Muslim immigrants from India fired them.