NHRC notice to Bihar on death of 2 sanitation workers

PATNA: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Bihar chief secretary, Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) and the Patna municipal corporation commissioner over media reports on the death of two sanitation workers during cleaning an underground drain in the Transport Nagar area on Tuesday.

In the notice, which was issued on Thursday, the commission directed officials to file a detailed report on the incident within six weeks and referred to reports that the employer of the workers did not provide safety gear to the labourers who ventured into the drain.

Two sanitation workers, Ranjan Ravidas (24) and Munna Razak (23) died, allegedly after inhaling toxic gases inside a sewer under the Namami Gange project on Tuesday. The labourers were cleaning a sewer at Ward No. 56, near Zakariyapur, under the Ramkrisha Police Station area, said a police officer.

A senior NHRC official said that the commission supports a complete ban on cleaning hazardous drains and sewer pipes without proper safety gear.

“An advisory to this effect has been issued to the Centre, states, and local authorities in this regard on September 24, 2021,” he added.

Two workers died in May 2021 while cleaning a sewage drain in Beur area of the state capital. They were identified as Mohammad Idarish and Muhammad Iqbal, the natives of West Bengal’s Murshidabad districts.

Bihar urban infrastructure development corporation (Buidco) managing director Dharmendra Singh, under whose supervision Namami Gange project is being implemented in Bihar, could not be contacted for his comments.