MADURAI: Repeated claims by the Madurai Corporation that no one is involved in hazardous manual cleaning of underground drainages were on Wednesday proved wrong as two young Dalit men involved in the work at HMS colony died after inhaling poisonous gas in a cesspool. The incident happened despite a Madras High Court order banning sanitary workers from entering sewage manholes, septic tanks and drains except under exceptional circumstances and a Supreme Court order prohibiting manual scavenging.
The deceased men, identified as G Muniyandi (28) of Manjamettu Colony here and D Viswanathan (25), resident of a village near Arani in Tiruvannamalai district, were working for a Madurai Corporation contractor. They were involved in cleaning at a lift station, a place where the sewage collected from nearby areas is delivered to the pumping station, located in a corner of the HMS Colony Main Road around noon when the incident happened.
Eyewitness accounts said Muniyandi went inside the underground pit at the lift station, which is about 35-40 ft deep, while Viswanathan held him with a rope. As Muniyandi showed signs of asphyxiation, Viswanathan looked inside the pit and tried to pull him out and in the process he also fell into it.
Both weren’t using any protective gear and no officials were present to supervise the work. On receiving information, officials rushed to the spot and Fire and Rescue Personnel were alerted.
They retrieved the bodies from the pit. Both men were found with froth in their mouth while Viswanathan had injuries on the back of his head.
Muniyandi, involved in conservancy work for around seven years, is survived by his wife M Mahalakshmi, a boy aged three and a girl aged two. Family members said he suffered severe burns about a year ago when he tried to test the presence of poisonous gas in a sewage pit with a lit match, a method commonly used by the workers.
Viswanathan, a bachelor, had come with about 15 others from Tiruvannamalai a few months ago specifically to clean the silt in the underground sewage system here. While his fellow workers had returned, Viswanathan was planning to go back after getting his pending salary from the contractor.
Soon after the incident, conservancy workers from the area and functionaries of Thozhilalar Viduthalai Munnani of the VCK assembled and refused to allow shifting of the bodies until senior officials came to the spot.
The workers said that though none of them sought the work, they were forced to take it up for a meagre salary of around Rs 4,500 after apparent assurances that they will be eventually made permanent Corporation employees.
Corporation Commissioner C Kathiravan reached the spot only after four-and-a-half hours. The workers and union functionaries demanded assurance from him that all those involved in manual cleaning of sewers will be rehabilitated. They said the Corporation is falsely claiming that it is using only jet-rodding machines to clean the sewers.
They also demanded that assistant engineer Mayilerinathan, drainage inspector Kannan and contractor Doss be included as accused in the FIR invoking provisions of the The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (2013).
Kathiravan later said a departmental inquiry will be conducted to determine under whose instruction and supervision the workers were made to clean the sewage. He assured immediate compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the bereaved families though he was non-committal on including Corporation officials in the FIR.