NHRC notice to Delhi govt, municipal commissioner over death of worker while cleaning sewer

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday said it has issued a notice to the Delhi Government, the municipal commissioner and the city police chief seeking a detailed report on the incident in which a worker died and three others were critically injured while cleaning a sewer in Ashok Vihar earlier this month.

In spite of directions given by the Supreme Court and the advisory by NHRC to all states and union territories to ensure safety of the sanitation workers, such tragic incidents are “occurring frequently”, the rights panel observed in a statement.

The commission has “taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that one worker died and three others were critically injured while cleaning a sewer in the Ashok Vihar area of northwest Delhi on September 16”, it said.

Reportedly, their co-workers said that allegedly no safety equipment was provided by the private construction company, which had engaged them for cleaning work, the statement said.

The commission has observed that the content of the media report, if true, raises a serious issue of human rights violation.

Therefore, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Government of Delhi, Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the city Police Commissioner, seeking a detailed report in two weeks.

It is expected to include the status of the investigation and the health of the injured workers. The details of compensation paid to the next of kin of the deceased and to the injured workers have also been sought, the statement said.

According to the media report, carried on September 18, the police control room had received a call late in the night on September 16 regarding the incident.

The police rushed all four victims to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. Doctors declared one of them as ‘brought dead’, while the three others were admitted to the ICU in a critical condition. The manager of the company is being questioned, it said.