2 die while cleaning drain in Telangana

HYDERABAD: Two workers died of asphyxiation while cleaning a drain in Telangana on Tuesday barely days after the Centre told Parliament that there have been no deaths due to manual scavenging in the country in the last five years.

The incident occurred at Padmavathi Colony in Hyderabad’s Sahebnagar late on Tuesday.

Police identified the victims as Shiva (25) and Ananthaiah (45) and said both belonged to the Scheduled Castes. But, 40 hours after he slipped into a manhole, Ananthaiah’s body was yet to be retrieved.

B Yellaih, a contractor employed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, hired the two men for the corporation’s desilting work. He allegedly made them enter the manhole around 10:30pm without any protective gear. Later, GHMC issued a release, saying that the contractor was not working according to the prescribed rules of sanitation, which do not allow any cleaning work to be carried out after 6pm.

Vanasthalipuram assistant commissioner of police K Purushotham Reddy said Yellaiah has been booked under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, and Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code based on the complaint by the relatives of the deceased.

“The accused is yet to be arrested. Further investigation is underway,” he added.

“We have four machines in the zone. But we do not know why the contractor asked the men to get into the manhole. We will know the details only after questioning him,” said A Maruthi Diwakar, GHMC deputy commissioner of LB Nagar zone.