Sewer deaths rock House, ₹10L relief for victims’ kin

The Delhi government is also working on setting new parameters for those who work in sewers.

The seven deaths in the Capital’s sewer lines over a span of three weeks were fiercely debated on the first day of Delhi Assembly’s monsoon session on Tuesday.

Water minister Rajendra Guatam informed the House that new guidelines are being drafted by the Delhi Jal Board to prevent such incidents while chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh for the three men who died on Sunday trying to clean a drain in south Delhi.

“The Delhi government is also working on setting new parameters for those who work in sewers. There will be a standard operating procedure (SOP) on not only the methods in which such works are to be carried out, but also on what agencies need to do if an untoward incident occurs,” Gautam said during the session.

The announcement came after Speaker Ram Niwas Goel urged the government to swiftly take precautionary measures for sanitation workers on duty.

The three workers who died on Sunday were cleaning a sewer line in Lajpat Nagar near the Kabir Ram temple on Sunday afternoon. They went inside, inhaled toxic fumes and were found unconscious.

CM Kejriwal also announced that the Delhi government will give jobs in its civil defence team to a family member of each of the three men.

“We will form a high-powered panel to examine why such incidents keep happening. This is the second such incident in a month. We will try and figure out what can be done to prevent such incidents,” the chief minister said.

Sacked AAP minister Sandeep Kumar said the government should raise the compensation. “The government in the past has given ₹1 crore compensation to families of martyred ex-servicemen and that of slain official MM Khan. In the case of the sanitation workers too, the government should consider giving the same amount,” Kumar said.

The issue led to a ruckus as the Speaker tried to move to the next topic of discussion and the opposition leaders protested. This resulted in leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa being marshalled out of the House.

In a similar incident three weeks ago in Ghitorni, four people died trying to clean a rainwater harvesting pit which had turned into a sewage-filled septic tank due to lack of maintenance.