An electrician, a construction worker, and a painter were sent in to clean STP

The inexperience and absolute lack of skill of the three -- who died of asphyxiation on Sunday morning -- at doing jobs like cleaning a clogged sewage treatment plant (STP), was obvious from their fam

BENGALURU: The inexperience and absolute lack of skill of the three -- who died of asphyxiation on Sunday morning -- at doing jobs like cleaning a clogged sewage treatment plant (STP), was obvious from their family members who said they had no clue how to clean an STP. Worse, none of their family members knew that they had set out to clean an STP on Sunday morning. Narayanaswamy, who roped in his friends — a construction worker and a painter at a construction site — to clean the STP at ND Sepal apartments in Somasundarapalya in HSR Layout, was just an electrician on the staff of the apartment association’s maintenance section.

None of the three had ever cleaned an STP in their lives. Radhamma, wife of the deceased Narayanaswamy, told Express: “My husband was an electrician in the apartment. I was not aware that he was in charge of cleaning an STP and had taken two of his friends. Usually, he never stepped out of the the house on work on Sundays as it was his holiday. He left home at around 7.30am. When I was informed by the police about the mishap, I did not believe it. Later, I rushed to the hospital and saw his body.”
Narayanaswamy’s family hails from Kolar and settled down in Kaigondanahalli. The couple has a six-year-old son, Darshan, who is still not aware that his father would never return home.

Manjula, wife of Narayanaswamy’s friend Madegowda, said “I was in the kitchen and someone came home and took my husband at around 9 am. He never informed me where he was going. He was into construction work and never knew about cleaning STP in any way. I suspect that he might have been forced to get into the STP to clean it. I demand justice! The police should arrest the apartment people (the residents) who are responsible for my husband’s death.”

Madegowda’s family hails from Sagasandra in Tumakuru district and Manjula works in a garment factory. The couple has a 14-year-old son Appu and a 17-year-old daughter Jamuna.
Vijay, son of Srinivas, the third deceased, said, “My mother Lakshi, who works in a house-keeping department at a private company, was unaware that he had gone for work. My father works as a painter at a construction site and he never knew how to clean an STP.”

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