Jaipur. A major accident took place during the cleaning of the sewerage tank on Friday afternoon in Shekhawat Marg, Niwaru Road, Ward No. 24, located in Jhotwara zone of Kardhani police station area of the city.
Two sanitation workers died due to suffocation due to poisonous gas produced in the sewer chamber. After the incident, there was chaos in the area and a large crowd of people gathered at the spot.
Police Officer Sawai Singh said that during the cleaning work in the sewerage tank, due to sudden formation of gas, the condition of both the laborers deteriorated and they started shouting for help. As soon as the information was received, Kardhani police station reached the spot and took both of them out and took them to Kanwatiya Hospital, where doctors declared them dead.
According to the police, the deceased have been identified as Ajay, resident of Purani Basti and Rambabu, resident of Banipark. The bodies of both have been kept in the mortuary and will be handed over to their families after post-mortem. Prima facie the cause of death is believed to be suffocation due to poisonous gas. Investigation of the entire matter is going on.
As soon as information about the incident was received, officials of Municipal Corporation Jaipur reached the hospital. Expressing grief over the accident, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Om Kasera said that negligence has come to light in the matter, which will be investigated.
He said that it will also be investigated whether safety equipment was provided to the employees by the contractor or not and whether the prescribed SOP was followed or not. If found guilty, strict action will be taken.
Here, Valmiki Safai Karmachari Sangathan President Nandkishore Dandoria said that this accident is the result of serious negligence. Dandoria alleged that the contractor was cleaning the sewer manhole without safety standard equipment, due to which both the workers died on the spot due to methane gas.
He said that the administration had been informed about this in the past too, but no effective action was taken. Citing Supreme Court guidelines, he alleged that the responsible officials were merely doing paperwork and the lives of sanitation workers were being put at risk.
The organization has demanded arrest of the responsible contractor and concerned officials, one government job each and compensation of Rs 1 crore to the families of the deceased. Besides, a demand has also been raised to issue strict instructions to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.
The organization has warned that if the demands are not resolved soon, then the cleaning work will be boycotted in entire Rajasthan including Jaipur and even the post-mortem of the dead will not be allowed. At present, the police and administration are busy investigating the entire matter and the causes of the accident are being thoroughly investigated.
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