In yet another incident highlighting the flagrant disregard of sanitation workers’ safety, a 48-year-old labourer died while three others are in a critical condition after they fell unconscious while cleaning sewers inside the lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital on Sunday.
In the past 35 days, ten people have lost their lives while cleaning sewers across the national Capital. In the latest incident, the responsibility of getting the sewers cleared is with the Public Works Department.
More than a week ago, two brothers were killed when they went inside a sewage tank without safety gear at an East Delhi mall.
“On Sunday afternoon, at around 1 pm, Rishi Pal along with Bishan Singh, Kiran Pal Kumar and Sumit were called to the premises of the lNJP Hospital by a private contractor Piyush. Investigators said that the sewer work was handed over to Piyush by the Public Works Department,” said a senior police officer.
“At around 1 pm, Rishi Pal went inside the sewer pit after which Bishan and Kiran went inside. When the trio did not come up for a long time, Sumit became suspicious and went inside the pit to check. When he too did not come up, passers-by gathered around the pit and informed the hospital authorities.
The hospital authorities in turn informed the Delhi Police and the Delhi Fire Service.
A team from the fire department went inside the pit and pulled out the workers who had lost consciousness.
By the time, the labourers were admitted in the hospital, Rishi Pal died.
While Bishan and Kiran are stated to be stable, condition of Sumit is stated to be critical.
A senior police officer said that they have booked the private contractor who hired these workers under culpable homicide not amounting to murder. An FIR in this regard has been registered at IP Estate police station and the contractor is absconding. Teams have been pressed into service to locate the culprit and bring him to face the law, the official added.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Central district, MS Randhawa said, “The hospital had outsourced the work of cleaning the sewer. We are probing the matter. One worker died and two fell ill.”
On August 12, two people died while they went inside a sewage tank at an East Delhi mall in Shahdara. In a string of incidents where poor people, asked to clear the sewers have choked to death, three sanitation workers too died inside a Delhi Jal Board-managed sewer line in South Delhi’s lajpat Nagar. While in July, four labourers were trapped to death inside a sewage tank in South Delhi’s Ghitorni.
In the Shahdara mall incident, police had said that the mishap happened after 24-year-old Jahangir and Izaz, who was two years younger, went inside the clogged sewage tank on the basement of Aggarwal Funcity Mall in Vishwas Nagar in Shahdara.