A day after the death of two sanitation workers while cleaning a deep sewer in Shahdara, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has come up with an enquiry report saying that the authority has nothing to do with the incident and the contractor has not been assigned by the DDA.
The authority also said, "It is clarified that neither the cleaning work of sewer line had been assigned to any contractor/agency nor the persons cleaning the sewer line were engaged by DDA. As the above mentioned sewer line has not yet been handed over to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), therefore, DDA has decided to extend financial assistance to the families of the deceased and injured."
The Delhi Development Authority has constituted an Enquiry Committee headed by the Chief Engineer (East), DDA to enquire into the incident which occurred near Central Business District (CBD) Shahdara area on Sunday where one person died and another was injured while cleaning the sewer line.
The sanitation worker who died due to suffocation while cleaning the 15 feet deep sewer were identified as Ravi (24) and another worker Sanjay (35) who suffered from suffocation, is undergoing treatment at a local hospital, said the police.
According to the police, the workers did not have any safety gear. The matter was reported around 1 pm after which a police team rushed to the spot and found that two men were stuck inside the sewer.
The team then pulled them out by using ropes and rushed them to a nearby hospital, he said. Ravi was declared brought dead by doctors and Sanjay, whose condition is critical, is undergoing treatment at the LNJP hospital, he added.
A case was registered at Anand Vihar police station on the complaint of a labour against the private contractor, a senior police official said. The contractor is absconding and an investigation has been initiated into the matter, he said.
Ravi, was the first worker to enter the sewer. When he didn't come out after sometime, Sanjay went inside, police said. The other workers called the police after they both did not come out after a while, they said. A worker alleged that the contractor told them that they would get paid Rs 350 per day for the job.