new delhi inderjeet singh was killed by toxic gases in a sewer 18 months ago his mother 62yearold maya kaur remembered trying to dissuade him to continuing in this line of work but being asked where the food would come from on thursday kaur could answer that question on how they could survive without manual scavenging kaur smartly attired in a polkadotted blue sari and white helmet was one of the 200 recipients of a rs 35lakh scavenging machine as a contractor she can now earn a living without endangering anyones lifewhile prioritising who should get the blueandwhite motorised sewercleaning machines djb preferred families whose members had perished in the job and those belonging to the sc community the first lot of 200 accordingly consisted of eight families of sewer victims 46 manual scavengers 92 men and 46 women from the sc community and eight women from the general category djb will guarantee these new contractors the cleaning of 500 metres of sewer lines every daysitting near kaur was renu devi her brother died while cleaning a sewer in chhatarpur a year and a half ago and thursday signified a turnaround for the financestrapped family i distinctly remember asking him to have some milk before rushing off for work that fateful day devi said i did not give birth to him but in everything else he was like my own son devis husband is employed as a security guard but it is she who will now don the mantle of the familys financial head she will also have her two sons as employeespriti who goes by just one name was among the youngest beneficiaries the 23yearold lost her husband mohan in last years much publicised lajpat nagar case since then i have been working with the civil defence but my income wasnt enough to ensure proper care of my two children she said hopeful now of a better future the male beneficiaries were no less optimistic deepak kheriwal an sc contractor from shahdara was all praise for the scheme this new business model can help us to become selfreliant while providing employment to three others he saidkheriwal seemed to be echoing milind kamble chairman dalit indian chamber of commerce and industry who said entrepreneurship is the third path after job reservation and political representation for the uplift of the dalit community this scheme is a replicable model for other states