Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol Thirumavalavan on Friday urged the State Government to file a murder charge against an employer who hired four workers to clean the septic tank which resulted in their death due to asphyxiation in Chekkarakudi in Thoothukudi district on Thursday.
In a statement, Mr. Thirumavalavan said manual scavenging was banned in 2014 by the Supreme Court and, in case of unavoidable circumstance, the workers should be given appropriate protective gears such as the mask, gloves, protective belt along with an ambulance.
“No State government is respecting the Supreme Court judgement in this regard. They are continuing to employ human beings instead using machines because it is inexpensive. When such deaths occur, the one who hired them to do this work should be arrested under a murder,” said Mr. Thirumavalavan.
He further said that families of the victims should be given a compensation of Rs. 50 lakh and that the Supreme Court mandated compensation of Rs. 10 lakh is not enough during the time of COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Thirumvalavan said that the Tamil Nadu government should immediately purchase machines to perform these tasks in Town Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations. “State Government must ensure that such deaths do not occur,” he said.
