KARACHI: A Pakistani non-profit organization has joined hands with a private transport solutions company to create a prototype of a sewer cleaning machine, representatives at the two groups said, in a bid to save the lives of thousands of sanitation workers who daily descend into Karachi’s sewers to manually unblock drains, braving toxic gases emitted by excrement, pollutants and other waste.

In Pakistan, strong social stigma is attached to sanitation work, often considered impure by many Muslims. Public bodies specifically reserve menial cleaning jobs for “non-Muslims” and thus, while Christians make up less than two percent of the country’s population, they occupy more than 80 percent of jobs involving refuse collection, sewage work and street sweeping, according to figures from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Hindus, another tiny community in the Muslim-majority nation, fill the remaining positions.

In a majority of cases, sewage workers do their jobs without masks or gloves to protect them from the stinking sludge and toxic plumes of gas that lurk deep underground. Cleaners often open clogged pipelines by shoving long bamboo sticks inside them to clear human waste and when that fails, dive into the gutters and spend hours inside clearing the excreta sludge with their bare hands for less than $3 dollars per sewer. Almost all of them develop skin and respiratory problems because of constant contact with human waste and toxic fumes.

Many also die, fainting or becoming asphyxiated by toxic fumes or swept away by floods of putrid black water carrying sand, stones, sludge and a swarm of gas. According to the Sweepers Are Superheroes advocacy campaign group, around 84 sewage workers have died in 19 districts of Pakistan over the past five years. More data is not readily available in Pakistan, though in neighboring India, where the practice of manual scavenging is also prevalent, one sewer worker dies every five days, according to a 2018 report by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis.

To present a solution to the perilous work, social activist and writer Naeem Sadiq, who lobbies for the rights of Pakistani workers, went to the Karachi Relief Trust, a local disaster management organization, and the Automobile Corporation Pakistan, with the idea for ‘Bhalai,’ meaning goodness in Urdu — a machine that could be operated from outside sewers, thus allowing them to be cleaned without the need for sanitation workers to descend underground.

“The same people who are mercilessly going into the depths of the gutter can now decently wear a proper uniform and gloves and the rest of the safety gear and operate the machine from outside, like it happens in the rest of the world,” Sadiq told Arab News, explaining that a prototype of the machine had been built by the Automobile Corporation Pakistan and would be put to work by the Karachi Relief Trust in Karachi, where 472 million gallons of sewage is produced daily, according to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

“Many of our friends have been wondering that while the Western world has fancy machines, which cost about Rs3-4 crore ($100,932-$134,577) per machine, why can’t we develop simple, low-cost machines, which will roughly cost maybe 20 lakh or 25 lakh rupees ($6,728-$8,411) in Pakistan,” Sadiq said.

Bhalai is indeed a simple machine, a motorbike chassis that comes with a grab cane that can descend into a pit and has a winch capable of reaching approximately 25 feet deep. The machine has a clamp designed to pick up debris and plastic waste, and is also equipped with a high-pressure jetting system that effectively cleans sewers and clears drains.

Khayam Husain, managing director of the Automobile Corporation Pakistan, said the machine was made after detailed discussions with sewer cleaners.

“We decided that we needed to build something that will be low cost and it should be local. We don’t need to depend on imported items,” Husain told Arab News, saying a motorbike chassis was used since it could be locally assembled and its parts were easily available.

Bhalai’s chassis was loaded with a storage tank that could hold 500 liters of water, Husain said, while a pump pushed the water pressure from the machine up to 10 bar at about 20 feet.

“And then we have a high-pressure hose in it,” Husain said, “and the crane and the clamp have also been made locally.”

“We did some idea generation that resulted in developing the first iteration of the prototype,” Husain added. “After a few tests, we found out it was all manual. But after some testing, we decided to convert all the operations to hydraulic so the machine can go a lot faster, and we can get it turned around a lot faster.”

Karachi Relief Trust Project Director Abdul Rafay Badar said a “substantial amount” of money was currently needed to produce the machine, but he hoped costs would go down in the future.

“Regardless, a common man who is the user of this product, cannot afford it,” Badar told Arab News. “So, either it will be [distributed] through sewer worker associations, or through cooperative societies or through an NGO, and even the government who can provide loans to support this product.”

“We are happy with what we have been able to achieve thus far but the whole development of the concept of the cooperative, or how it’s going to actually bring about the change, that will take time.”

A sewer worker in Karachi welcomed the idea of the machine, saying it would help save lives.

“The machine is very much needed so that cleaners’ lives aren’t at stake,” Yousuf Sadiq told Arab News. “Workers get inside big pipes and are nowhere to be found then. Danger is there because there is gas. Gas is really dangerous. If it gets into your head, it takes one’s life.”

When asked if the machine might kill jobs of sewer workers like him, he said:

“Employment will be affected but those who call us will call us. It would be good if a machine serves the purpose. Employment is in the hands of God.”