CUTTACK: The family of sanitation worker P Narasingha who drowned while clearing garbage from a stormwater channel at Barapathar on Wednesday afternoon, staged a dharna by placing his body in front of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) office on Thursday demanding compensation of Rs 10 lakh.
Narasingha’s body was handed over to his family after a postmortem on Thursday following which it was placed in front of the civic body’s office in the afternoon. “CMC is responsible for the loss of the life of the sanitary worker. We will continue the dharna till the authorities assure us of providing compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the deceased,” said the corporator of ward no 35 J Kameswar Rao, who is also a relative of the deceased.
Mayor Subhash Singh said Narasingha was not an employee of the civic body. “He was a temporary staff of a city-based private agency engaged by WATCO’s Drainage division for cleaning Main Storm Water Channel (MSWC)-1. CMC has written to the chief minister for sanctioning financial assistance to the family of the deceased,” he said. The dharna was withdrawn after the manager, of WATCO Drainage Division Bijay Kumar Panda assured the agitators to provide the compensation within three days.