Owing to the callous attitude of the authorities, the national Capital has witnessed ten deaths of the manual scavengers during last 35 days or so. On Sunday afternoon, a 48-year-old labourer hired by a private contractor died while he went inside the sewer pit at the Government-run lNJP hospital. Contractors are showing scant disregard for the lives of the sanitation workers and are forcing them to enter highly toxic sewers without gas protection masks.
This has been happening unabated despite Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia castigating Delhi Jal Board (DJB) contractors and officials for not using machines to clean the sewage. Death of the manual scavengers had led to an uproar in the Delhi Assembly where Deputy CM had questioned about why manual scavenging still continues in the Capital.
On July 15, four labourers had died after they fell unconscious after inhaling toxic gas inside a tank in Ghitorni, near Vasant Kunj in South Delhi. The tank, which was originally meant for harvesting rain water, was filled with filth and sewage which hadn't been cleaned for long, Delhi Police had then said. Following which, police had registered a case under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against JK Mehta, the owner of the property, its staff and the builder.
However, Delhi Police has miserably failed in arresting the accused contractors. When asked about the development in the case, officials said that the police teams have carried out raids but accused have managed to evade police dragnet.
However, not less than a month passed that three sanitation workers died while another remained critical when they went inside a sewer pipe to clean it in Southeast Delhi's lajpat Nagar area on August 6. "Three men — Joginder (32), Annu(28) and a 25-year-old man, yet to be identified — were declared brought dead at the AIIMS."
Police then had said that they three men died as they all were exposed to obnoxious gases and felt suffocated. A case under Section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC was registered.
On August 12, two brothers died of suffocation while cleaning a sewage tank of a shopping mall in Vishwas Nagar in East Delhi's Anand Vihar on Saturday afternoon. A case has been registered against the mall management and an investigation is on. However, no arrests were made. A senior police officer had said that the father of the deceased, who was working with them inside the sewer, and a fireman, who went to rescue them, have been admitted to hospital after they too complained of suffocation and are currently under observation.
"50-year-old Yusuf and his sons Jahangir (24) and Izaz (22), went to clean a sewage plant at the Aggarwal Fun City Mall in Anand Vihar. The incident happened around 1 pm and by the time, the workers were rushed to a nearby hospital where Jahangir was declared brought dead while Izaz died later during treatment.
All these deaths could have been averted if the contractors used laid down security precautions and provided gas masks to the sanitation workers before asking them to enter sewage lines, said a DJB officials pleading anonymity. The official also said that contractors hired sanitation workers on daily wage basis and do not provide them physical protection despite knowing it fully well that sewage lines contain highly poisonous gases that kill choke people to death within minutes.