Two engineers of Public Works Department (PWD) were suspended on Wednesday by lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal for dereliction of duty resulting in the death of a sanitation worker at the city Government-run hospital last week. The worker died while cleaning the sewer pipeline at lok Nayak Hospital last Sunday.
Noting frequent deaths as a grim portrayal of the unsafe working condition for people engaged in keeping Delhi’s sewer lines and tanks unclogged, often with bare hands, the l-G had termed the present situation as unacceptable.
“Two PWD engineers suspended in the incident of unfortunate death of sewer worker on Sunday. Zero tolerance for negligence in such cases,” the l-G tweeted.
Also, the l-G, who had chaired a meeting on August 21 over the issue, had said stringent action would be taken against the defaulters by police and strict action plan would be formed in a week’s time.
According to the suspension order, disciplinary proceedings against suspended assistant engineer Santosh Kumar Doharey and junior engineer Ravi Prakash Meena are being contemplated.
“We found that both engineers, who perform duty in the field, should have kept a check and ensured that the safety code was followed by the contractor,” a Government official told The Pioneer.
Recently, in the posh South Delhi lajpat Nagar, three people - Joginder (32), Annu (28) and a 25-year-old man, yet to be identified - died after inhaling poisonous gases while cleaning a sewer. “Two brothers in Anand Vihar and four in Ghitorni died the same way. In around a month, 10 sanitation workers have died while cleaning the sewage pipeline manually in this city,” said activists, who keep an eye on such developments.
The l-G has also directed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to study and propose a plan of action for migration to 100 per cent mechanisation for sewers and drains’ cleaning within 15 day in coordination with chairman of North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Commissioner of South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
In presence of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and PWD Minister Satyender Jain at the meeting on Monday, the l-G directed the CEO (DJB) to prepare a regime for cases requiring emergency manual intervention as per law within a week’s time.
Secretary (SC/ST) of the Delhi Government was directed to upload all the notifications clarifying the legal position on the website so that it can be in public domain for benefit of the contractors as well as the users. The DJB Minister Rajender Pal Gautam had reacted sharply to the incident and was present during the high-level meeting this week.