Labourers sent inside sewer not sanitation workers: Cops

The two men who were killed on Friday while cleaning a sewer in Narela were not trained sanitation workers, but construction labourers hired by a private construction firm on daily wages, people aware of the investigation into the case said on Saturday.

- Karn Pratap Singh

NEW DELHI:

The victims - Vijay Mochi, 36, and Nandu Ram Ahirwar, 44 - were employed by a private construction firm at a Delhi Development Authority (DDA) housing project where they died while trying to clean a sewer.

Despite having no expertise in sewer maintenance, the two labourers - who primarily assisted masons at the construction sites by carrying construction materials for paltry sums of ₹300-400 a day - were allegedly forced to enter the nearly two-meter-deep sewer without proper safety gear, according to their families and initial probe.

Their families said the men were given only helmets and rubber gloves before being ordered into the sewer.

Anil Kumar Paswan, their 37-year-old supervisor, attempted to rescue them when they failed to respond but was also overcome. Other workers pulled them out and rushed them to Satyawadi Raja Harish Chandra Hospital, where Mochi and Ahirwar were declared dead on arrival. Paswan survived and is recovering.