The 2011 census stated that Mumbai has 1,137 manual scavengers, the highest in Maharashtra, but BMC’s survey says there are none. According to the census, Mumbai was followed by Akot Municipal Council in Akola district with 530 manual scavengers. BMC invited responses both through self-declaration and door-to-door survey and completed the exercise last month. The practice of manual scavenging — banned through the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act enacted 20 years ago — involves removal of human waste from unsanitary toilets which are usually not connected to sewer lines and do not have septic tanks. Though BMC found 874 ‘personal unsanitary toilets’, it did not find anyone undertaking manual scavenging. The penalty for employing a manual scavenger is imprisonment for up to a year or a fine of up to Rs 50,000, or both. Prakash Patil, deputy municipal commissioner (solid waste management), said, “The disparity between the census and BMC survey is due to the definition of manual scavenging. During census, if people said that they were involved in manual scanvenging, it was taken into account. However, according to the definition of manual scavenging, only those who lift human waste by hands should be counted,” he said. Most people today use mechanised or other instruments to lift waste from such toilets, he added. Following allegations that the data collected by census enumerators was not accurate, the Centre had asked civic bodies to undertake surveys and verify the figures. The survey by BMC in June included setting up of 83 local centres, involving 270 enumerators to go door-to-door. BMC put up banners and advertisements in newspapers asking people involved in manual scanvenging to come foward. The 2011 census found 7.94 lakh cases of human scavenging in the country, of which the highest were in J& K (1.78 lakh). According to the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, civic bodies and district-level officers have to ensure that no person within their jurisdiction is engaged as a manual scavenger or constructs an insanitary latrine. These agenices have to ensure that manual scavengers are rehabilitated. The law makes makes it mandatory for municipalities, cantonment boards and railway authorities to construct adequate number of sanitary community latrines within three years of this act coming into force.