Three Dalit workers died from asphyxiation while cleaning a sewage tank at a private dyeing factory near Karaipudur in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur district on May 19 and 20. A fourth worker, who survived the incident, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital. The deceased were identified as Saravanan (30), Venugopal (30), and Hari Krishnan (27), all residents of the Sundamedu area in Tiruppur, belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community.
Speaking to TNM, Palladam police said that a first information report (FIR) has been registered against the factory owner Naveen, manager Dhanabal, supervisor Balasubramaniam and vehicle owner Chinnasamy.
The four have been booked under sections 125A (endangering life) and 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), section 3(2)(v) (serious offences) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and section 9 (prohibits the engagement of anyone for cleaning of sewers and septic tanks) of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
According to police, the four men were employed at Aalaya Dyeing Mills in Karaipudur of Tiruppur. On the evening of May 19, they entered a seven-foot-deep sewage tank at the factory to clean it, reportedly without using any safety gear. Shortly after entering the tank, all four began to suffocate and collapsed. Co-workers pulled them out and rushed them to a private hospital, but three of them did not survive.
Saravanan and Venugopal were declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Hari Krishnan, who was admitted in critical condition, succumbed to his injuries the following day, May 20. The fourth victim, Chinnasamy (36), also from Sundamedu, is currently undergoing treatment.
The bodies of the deceased were later sent to the Tiruppur Government Medical College Hospital for autopsy.
Meanwhile, a peace committee meeting headed by Revenue Officer Karthikeyan was held on May 20, during which the factory agreed to provide a compensation of Rs 30 lakh to the families of the deceased.
It is to be noted that the Supreme Court, in October 2023, passed an order increasing the compensation paid to manual scavenging deaths from Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs, and extended it to include all sewer deaths.
Samuel Velanganni, the Tamil Nadu state convenor of the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), told TNM that the government must conduct a comprehensive survey to identify the number of people engaged in manual scavenging and take immediate steps towards their rehabilitation.
“There have been zero convictions in manual scavenging-related deaths. The government must take this issue seriously. If they don’t, they are paving the way for more deaths in the name of manual scavenging,” he said. He also urged the government to address the entrenched societal mindset that normalises forcing certain communities into this practice.
Chennai-based photographer Palanikumar, who recently won the Ashish Yechury Memorial Award for Photojournalism for documenting the lives of sanitation workers’ families, said, “Deaths of manual scavengers are treated like routine news. In many cases, the government allocates sanitation work to the wives of those who have died. This clearly shows how the state continues this tragedy rather than addressing its root causes.”
According to data tabled at the Rajya Sabha in December 2024 by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Tamil Nadu has recorded the highest number of deaths in sewers and septic tanks at 67, followed by Maharashtra at 63 and Haryana at 51.
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