LUCKNOW: Four contractual sanitation workers died of suffocation, on Tuesday, while cleaning choked sewer lines in Lucknow and Rae Bareli.
None of them was provided with mandatory masks and belts, thus exposing them to toxic fumes. Twin FIRs have been lodged in both districts against four people, including a junior engineer, supervisor and contractor under the Manual Scavenging Prohibition Act, SC/ST Act, murder and culpable homicide.
In Lucknow, two manual scavengers, Pooran, 35, Karan, 19, gasped to death while unblocking sewage lines in Sadatganj area, while two others who went down to rescue the duo lost consciousness, and are recuperating at KGMU Trauma Centre.
FIRs lodged in Lucknow & Rae Bareli
FIRs have been lodged in both districts. Lucknow Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia offered Rs 10lakh compensation to kin of each deceased. A probe will be conducted after the autopsy, said, additional deputy commissioner of police, West Zone, Chiranjeev Nath Sinha.
A private firm had bagged the contract to clean sewers at Gulabnagar and the work was supervised by Ajay Singh, who too fell unconscious, while trying to rescue others.
In the tragedy at Rae Bareli, two sanitation workers, Yogesh, 35, and Sanju Nagar, 45, were asphyxiated while cleaning a choked manhole at Ghosiana Road in Kotwali police station area. Yogesh entered the manhole and when he did not return, another worker went down using the same rope. After a while, a third worker was sent to search for the duo, but he too didn't emerge, said police. Sensing there was something amiss, other workers tipped off police and fire brigade, which kick-started the rescue mission. "While two workers died, one was admitted to hospital," said SHO, Kotwali, Raghvan Singh.
"Preliminary probe shows the duo had suffocated to death. We are probing the role of contractor and are checking whether he provided safety equipment to the workers," said SP, Rae Bareli, Shlok Kumar. While Yogesh is a native of Dholpur area of Rajasthan, Sanju Nagar is from Mathura district.
