BENGALURU: When he left his house, 22-year-old Siddanna did not know he was being taken to clean a septic tank. Siddanna suffocated in a septic tank in Shivajinagar on Saturday. Another worker who tried to rescue him was hospitalised. Seeing the body of her young brother at Bowring Hospital, Gangamma collapsed, saying he was forced to go to work that day. Gangamma said that a private contractor turned up at their house in Kacharakanahalli in HBR Layout and coerced her brother even though he didn’t want to go.“Muniyanna, a mason, came to our house.
Siddanna refused to go with him as it was a Saturday. But Muniyanna threatened him, that he would not pay Siddanna’s payment of Rs 20,000 which has been pending for a couple of months. They left the house at 7 am and around 2.30 pm we were told that Siddanna fell inside the tank and died,” she said. The youngest son of Narayanappa and Shankaramma, Siddanna has four sisters and three brothers. He is one of 50 people who moved to Bengaluru from Ballari district in search of work.
“Since there is no work in our native village we came to the city to earn money. We are paid Rs 600 per day. We get salary once a week or once a month. It also depends on the contractors and masons,” said Siddanna’s nephew Mallanna.He added that Muniyanna lived in Hegdenagar and often came to their tiny houses and shanties to hire labourers. “We do all kind of labour at construction sites and other places. But we know nothing about cleaning of septic tanks. He was forced to get in,” Mallanna said.