A Robot Might Take His Job — And That's Good News
Cleaning sewers by hand is a profession in India that has been banned but still persists. Mechanical devices, including robots, are emerging as a possible solution.
Jitesh Singolia is standing in a manhole. He is up to his waist in gray sewage – a mixture of waste from toilets and kitchens — as he tries to unclog the sewer pipe in a housing complex in the northern suburbs of Mumbai. He scoops out sludge with his bare hands. It contains human excrement, soiled sanitary pads, even razor blades, which sometimes cut him.
He says he usually bathes at least twice at the end of a day's work to wash off the stench.
"I don't feel like doing this," says the 19-year-old. "But I have to." Poor and uneducated, he's been
