Gujarat: 2 sanitation workers die while cleaning sewage line, contractors booked
According to the Gujarat government’s records, which was recently presented in the legislative assembly, 11 sanitation workers died of asphyxiation while cleaning drains in different parts of the state during the last two years
Two sanitation workers died due to asphyxiation on Saturday while cleaning a sewage in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad district, police said on Sunday. The incident took place in line in Dholka town on Saturday evening, they said, adding two contractors have been booked in connection with the incident.
The deceased were identified as Gopal Padhar, 24, and Bijal Padhar, 32.
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Police said, according to the eyewitnesses, they fell unconscious after entering the sewage line. They were pulled out and rushed to a hospital where doctors declared them dead, said an official from Dholka police station.
Police said they registered a first information report (FIR) against contractors Ashiq Thakor and Jagdish Thakor under Indian Penal Code Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) as well as under relevant provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to the Gujarat government’s records, which was recently presented in the legislative assembly, 11 sanitation workers died of asphyxiation while cleaning drains in different parts of the state during the last two years.
On April 6, three sanitation workers died in Dahej town of Bharuch district in a similar incident.
Following the death of the workers, Hiren Banker, spokesperson for Gujarat Congress Pradesh Committee, has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Sunday claiming that they were forced to do their work without any protective gear which led to their deaths.
He said despite the illegality of this practice and the existence of laws in place to prohibit it, manual scavenging continues to claim the lives of countless sanitation workers across the country.
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“In the last three decades, government statistics data show that Gujarat stood second in death of sanitation workers in the country. The NHRC has a vital role to play in this regard and I urge you to take immediate action to address this issue,” the letter to the human rights body read.
“In Gujarat and other states, there has been a significant rise in the number of deaths due to manual scavenging in recent years...It is unacceptable that people are forced to engage in such hazardous and degrading work and that their lives are put at risk every day,” it further stated.
