MUMBAI, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government is committed to eradicating manual scavenging as it has laid increasing emphasis on mechanical cleaning and preventing human entry into sewer and septic tanks through use of modern technologies, the government's Press Information Bureau said Monday.

The bureau issued a statement after a national Workshop Cum Exhibition on Sustainable Sanitation organised by the Ministry of for Housing & Urban Affairs.

"Our ministry has consistently made efforts to devise efficient systems, processes and technologies for mechanical cleaning of sewer and septic tanks," Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, said in the statement.

According to the national body of manual scavengers, at least one worker has died while cleaning sewerage or septic tanks every five days, since the beginning of 2017, while another body said 1,850 people have died in the last decade while cleaning sewers.

But activists believe that the real death rates are probably much higher as they are under-counted.