Delhi HC seeks response from DDA, police, NCSK over deaths of two sewer cleaners after inhaling toxic fumes
Sep 21, 2022
New Delhi [India], September 21 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Police and the National Commission for Safai Karmacharis (NCSK) over the death of two persons recently after allegedly inhaling toxic gases inside a sewer in outer Delhi area.
The court earlier had also sought responses from the municipal corporation, the Government of NCT Delhi, Delhi Jal Board on public interest litigation (PIL) initiated on its own by the court on the basis of a news report of the death of two people on September 11 during cleaning of a sewer.
The Municipal Corporation and Delhi Jal Board on Wednesday informed the bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad that the area where the incident took place falls under the domain of DDA and also said that the sweeper was an employee of DDA also, so DDA will be the appropriate authority to pay compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased. The next date of hearing in the matter is September 27, 2022.
On September 12, The Delhi High Court had decided to take suo motu cognizance of media reports published stating a sweeper and a security guard died in Outer Delhi's Mundka area after they inhaled toxic gases inside a sewer they had gone down to clean, police said.
The bench also appointed senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao as the amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter.
Recently, in the Bakarwala area of outer Delhi, one cleaner and one guard died due to suffocation and toxic gases in a sewer.
The deceased were identified as Ashok Kumar and Rohit, whose bodies had been fished out of the sewer with the help of the fire brigade.
Ashok was a guard in the DDA society, while Rohit was called to clean the sewer. According to the police, something got stuck in the sewer line inside the society, for which Rohit had gone inside. When he did not come out, Ashok also went inside to see him. Both did not come out for a long time, after which the matter was reported to the police. Police called JCB, fire brigade, and road cutter and pulled both of them out of the sewer and took them to the hospital where the doctor declared them dead.
