Bengaluru Manhole deaths: Cops arrest two BBMP officials
BENGALURU: THE police have arrested four people, including two BBMP officials, in the case of two men dying in a septic tank of a restaurant while trying to clean it in AECS Layout in Doddanakundi on Tuesday afternoon.
The BBMP officials are booked for issuing licence to carry out commercial activities illegally. The arrested are Kalpana, deputy health officer, Mahadevapura zone; Devaraj, senior health inspector, Tubarahalli; caretaker of Hotel YumLok, Venkatesh, a native of Davanagere; and manager Ayush Gupta, a native of Uttar Pradesh, who is a resident of AECS Layout in Doddanakundi. The city police commissioner T Suneel Kumar said the case was booked under Section 304 of the IPC, Prohibition of Manual Scavenging Act and SC/ST Atrocities Act.
Suneel Kumar has warned of stern action against people encouraging manual scavenging and activities like cleaning clogs in sewage treatment plant or basement drains. “Police will take action against the building owner, association members (if it is an apartment complex), and the government officials concerned,” he said.“I will write a letter to the BBMP commissioner to close down such illegal establishments,” Suneel Kumar said.
He recalled the incidents of three labourers who died due to asphyxiation on January 7 while cleaning a sewage treatment plant at ND Sapal apartment in Somasundarapalya, HSR Layout, in Bengaluru and the Kamala Mills fire accident in Mumbai to remind the public what negligence and indifference can lead to.
BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said, “Removal of illegal commercial establishments is an ongoing process and we are already doing it. Recently, we raided rooftop restaurants which was illegally built. I will speak to the police commissioner and work to intensify our campaign against illegal establishments in the city.”