Karnataka State Safai Karmachari Commission has ordered the Kalaburagi district administration to take serious and effective action against officers responsible for the death of two labourers – Lal Ahmed and Rasheed, who were forced to clean a manhole without protective gear and died by asphyxiation here on Thursday.
Commission chairman M. Shivanna, after inspecting the spot at Kailash Nagar, addressing presspersons on Saturday took officials of Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) to task for asking the labourers to enter manhole, though manual scavenging is banned. “The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act of 1993 and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act of 2013 prohibit hazardous manual cleaning of sewer and septic tanks,” he said.
The board has outsourced maintenance to a private agency. Though manual scavenging is prohibited, the contractor has forced the labourers to enter a 20-feet-deep manhole to clean the sewer as it was blocked. Mr. Shivanna called for immediate arrest of the contractor.
He also visited the victims’ homes and ensured ₹10 lakh as compensation to each of the victim’s families. At present, ₹5 lakh has been extended to them. He also directed the district authorities to ensure that minor children of the victims are provided free education and jobs are given to the wives.
The victims’ wife lodged a complaint against four officials and a contractor.
Though the family members of Lal Ahmed lodged a complaint against four officials of KUWSDB - Executive Engineers Vijaykumar Bilgundi and Narasimha Reddy; assistant executive engineer B.S. Patil and Supervisor Vijaykumar and a contractor Shafi - at Raghvendra Colony police station on Thursday, no one has been arrested yet.
