Two arrested for negligence

NEW DELHI: A day after four workers died after they inhaled toxic fumes in south Delhi's Ghitorni area, the Delhi Police have arrested a supervisor and a gardener for not ensuring the safety of the workers who died inside the rain harvesting pit.

The police had arrested them after a preliminary investigation into the matter revealed that the two men had asked the workers to enter the pit without any safety check. The supervisor has been identified as Niranjan Singh (42) and the gardener as Ridhipa (47).

The remaining survivors had told the police and media that they were asked to enter the pit without any safety equipment like gas masks.

“During the investigation of the case we found that Niranjan on the instruction of his owner, Mehta had called one of the deceased Swarn Singh to clean the tank. Niranjan was supposed to give them safety equipment but did not provide any of them. He had insisted the cleaners to enter the pit without the equipment,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (south) Chinmoy Biswal.

While Ridhipal, who worked at Mehta farm was also alleged of the same charges. “He was also present at the spot at the time of the incident but did the same as done by accused Niranjan. They both collectively failed to ensure the safety of workers,” Biswal added.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Delhi BJP unit blamed the Delhi government for failing to take any action to avoid the tragic incident.

The leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said that such incidents point to negligence and insensitivity towards sanitation workers. "We often hear news of similar calamities during cleaning drills of septic tanks. However Delhi government has failed to take any action to avoid the re occurrence of such fatal accidents," he said.