Dear IIT Kanpur Community Members,

On 10^th March 2025, the Director of IIT Kanpur, Prof. Manindra Agrawal, sent an email^[1] to the campus community regarding the ongoing eviction of dhobis from the Dhobighat. We thank the Director for putting the Institute’s offer to the dhobis in writing.  Before this, no such assurance  has been given to them in writing. However, the email – though an official acknowledgment of the issue – is also full of misinformation and at times contrary to the Institute’s own action.  We at IIT Kanpur Citizen’s Forum, a group of concerned Alumni of IIT Kanpur, have been raising issues of contract workers and the Dhobis  since 2008. In our hope to engage with the Director on the issue of Dhobi eviction, we have written several letters to the Director. But none of them were even acknowledged, much less received a response. In the following we would like to express our  concern regarding the Director’s email:

Formal Notices on Unauthorized Occupancy:

We feel that it is not right on the Director’s part to insinuate that people expressing concerns, including students and Dhobis, are being misled by certain elements of the campus community. The truth is that the IITK administration has not been communicating with the Dhobis in good faith. It has been claimed in his email that the quarters are being vacated because they are “unsafe to live in“ and the dhobis are not deemed unauthorized residents. Truth is, they have been told in meetings held by the administration officials and  through several notices that dhobis are unauthorized occupants.  For example, one such notice issued by the estate officer of IITK to dhobis on January 03, 2025 can be found here. What the Director is saying is factually incorrect. Either he is unaware of the workings of his own offices or he simply wants to discredit that section of the community which is trying to make the system accountable towards needs and demands of a larger working population  serving the IITK community.

Also, the Director’s email seems to agree with the fact that dhobis are authorized residents of the campus, which would meantwo things: first, they ought to be provided alternative accommodation, if their buildings are indeed unsafe and, secondly the administration was trying to illegally — invoke Public Premises Act as the above mentioned notices indicate — and in fact even conducted a “hearing” in the matter as dictated by the act where they — again, illegally — refused to take into account all the documents that were presented by the Dhobis.

Disregard of Students’ Unanimous Formal Position:

In an emergency Council of Students’ for Hostel Affairs (CoSHA) meeting held on 19^th February, it was decided that any new arrangements regarding the Dhobighat should only be undertaken after consultation with both the students and dhobis (for details, please check the article published on IITK students’ magazine Vox Populi here). This is a genuine demand from the students as they are the ones who are going to be affected most with any changes vis-a-vis clothes’ washing, drying and ironing facilities. It must be noted that the students discussed the issue in a formal meeting of a very important body of the institute, whose presence still gives some semblance of the great democratic tradition IITK is known for. However, the tradition seems to be withering away under this administration as it does not respect the decision of the body representing all students. Paying no heed to the students’ demands, the Institute constructed temporary tin shades for storing clothes using discarded and rusted material, which posehazards to human health.

Indignity and Surveillance:

Cameras have been set up at places in Dhobighat completely disregarding the occupants’ privacy concerns. It must be made known to the concerned campus community that there are no facilities of washrooms or toilets at the Dhobighat. The Institute even failed to provide such basic facilities to a section of the community which has served it for nearly six decades. In such a situation, dhobi families were forced to relieve themselves, clean and bathe in the open. And, now with the cameras in place, their dignity has been compromised.

[Update – As of today, the cameras have been removed]

Unshared Claims Regarding Structural Safety:

Backed by the purported study done by its own civil engineering department and that of HBTU, the Institute has also claimed that the Dhobis’ living quarters and cloth-storing places are structurally unsafe. The Institute is yet to make these study reports public despite the repeated demands of the community members and the alumni. Absent that, we in the campus and alumni community  cannot have enough confidence in assertions that the structures are not safe. Moreover, many questions remain unanswered: Why did only type 1 residences become unsafe? Isn’t it the responsibility of the Institute to ensure safety of not just type 1 but all buildings? Why did it fail to fulfill its responsibilities? On what basis type 1 residences were singled out for safety evaluation? Are all other buildings safe? If the Institute failed to keep these structures safe for the “authorized” residents, shouldn’t it be the Institute’s responsibility to provide them alternate safe residents? We assert that it is IITK’s responsibility. PM Awas Yojna is not to be relied upon for their relocation.

Unsubstantiated and Misleading Claims on Water Usage:

The Director has also floated a few estimates about water consumption in the dhobighat. He claimed in a meeting with Dhobis and students on March 8^th that the water consumption of Dhobighat is 1 lakh liters per day which is 20% of the total water consumption of the Institute. However, we would like to draw the attention of the campus community to the Institute’s own sustainability report. As per this report on page 10, “considering the large population of our campus, the water demand is high. The estimated consumption is 4 million liters per day (MLD).”. But, as per the Director’s claim, it is only 5 lakh liters per day. Clearly, he is quite off from the estimates reported in the sustainability report. Even if we believe that 1 lakh liters per day is the water consumption of the Dhobighat, then it is only 2.5% of the total water usage of IITK per day. Moreover, we would like to draw the attention of the community to a report as per which the water consumption at Dhobighat is only around 25,000 liters per day. It should be kept in mind that the water usage also depends on the presence of students in the campus as during the holidays/breaks, the consumption is far less. Moreover, as per a research paper (here), the bathing and toilet flushing have been known as two of the most intensive water consumption activities. The Institute can certainly encourage more environment friendly water consumption practices for the households, hostels and labs. Singling out the Dhobighat in this regard does not seem to be in a good faith.

Unsubstantiated Claims on Sustainability of Machines:

Again, the Director’s claims about the sustainability of machines should also not be taken at face-value without considering the other costs associated with washing facilities. Even if we believe the figure of 10,000 liters per day, that is only one part of the cost associated with the cleaning. What about electricity consumption during washing and drying, depreciation of washing machines, their maintenance costs etc? Presently, Dhobis are providing the services (room pick-up and delivery services of clothes aside from washing, drying, ironing, and folding and packing them for delivery) at ₹10 per cloth item. Will the new arrangement cost less? Not just in terms of resource consumption, but overall carbon footprint. Apart from quoting the less water consumption, the Director must also give some estimates regarding the cost that students would have to bear in the age of “laundromat”.

These machines are also known to be less environment-friendly as far as the release of microplastics is concerned. In a widely publicized research, here, it has been found that the machine laundering released over five times more microplastics than the traditional hand washing of clothes. The normal washing machines are also known to damage the fabric more.

Concerns on Employment of Dhobis and Dependability of Alternate Services

And invariably, machines will replace labor now being done by the Dhobis. What about jobs for those who would be replaced by the machines? In our society, unlike in the Western countries, we do not have a shortage of labor.  A replaced dhobi not just loses his/her income, but also his/her dignity. We must oppose such dehumanization of fellow citizens. The Dhobis would also lose control over some of the labor processes once they start working with these machines, For example, if the machines break down, they will be completely dependent upon different companies and people to fix them. Even if the maintenance cost is covered by the Institute, the loss over time and customers in the process could be substantial.

In view of the above, we must highlight that the real reason for Dhobi’s not accepting the ‘plan’ is not the instigation by some members of the community. In IIT, they see an institution whom they have served for decades, but who even failed to provide basic facilities like bathrooms and toilets, even in the age of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan; an institution who in the name of alternative arrangements is erecting temporary structures using discarded and rusted material; an institution who calls them unauthorized occupants in the formal notices and do otherwise in front of campus community. If the institute is really interested in solving  this so-called “long-standing” issue, then it should first come clean and build a relationship based on mutual trust with the Dhobi community.

We strongly believe that any new plan as suggested by the Director must be evaluated scientifically and keeping in mind the above noted facts and concerns. It should be even more so in an Institute which claims to be at the forefront of science and technology and wishes to train students to be ethical and serve the community at large.

Sincerely,

IIT Kanpur Citizen’s Forum