NEW DELHI: Among the 1,248 people died while cleaning sewer and septic tanks in the country since 1993, Tamil Nadu reported the maximum number of deaths at 253, followed by Gujarat at 183, Uttar Pradesh at 133, and Delhi at 116.

The official data was shared in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale. In response to another question, he said no manual scavenging deaths have been reported so far.

Noting that no person or agency can engage or employ anyone for manual scavenging, he said in a written response that anyone who does this in violation of the provisions under the MS Act, 2013, was punishable under Section 8 with imprisonment up to two years or fine up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.

No report of the practice of manual scavenging has been received from the districts, he added.