In yet another soul stirring manual scavenging reports, a 37-year-old sanitation worker died after he entered a drain to clean it. The incident took place in North Delhi’s Timarpur area on Sunday afternoon.
According to the reports, victim identified as Kishan entered the drain along with one other person to clean it. Kishan fell unconscious after inhaling toxic gases inside the drain. When he did not return by 3 PM, emergency responders were alerted.
Officials with the local police, the Delhi Fire Services, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority reached the spot and launched a rescue operation. The victim’s body was found following a search operation which lasted for seven hours on the Sunday afternoon.
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Investigation revealed that Kishan, along with several other workers, was hired by a contractor to clean the Wazirabad drain. A case under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code has been registered at Wazirabad police station and efforts are on to trace the contractor.
Also read: Could ‘Bandicoot’ be a replacement to manual scavenging?
