A few minutes past the midnight of March 6, three men who were working for a private contractor employed by the BWSSB went into a toxic manhole in a rich Bengaluru suburb and asphyxiated to death. Sunitha Rao now reports for Times of India that these men were working on a World Bank project.
BWSSB officials reportedly told TOI that the three men were working for a Karnataka Municipal Reforms Project for laying sewage lines, being funded by World Bank. The project is being overseen by the BWSSB, and began in 2013-14.
The men were reportedly laying the sewage lines between KR Puram and Kadubeesanahalli.
It is further reported that the contractors were served notice since the government agency was unhappy with their work, and following this incident they might be blacklisted. The BWSSB has also promised action against government officials.
On Monday, three men, Yerraiah (35), Anjaneya Reddy (34) and Dhavathi Naidu (40), all working for Ramkay enterprises - a contractor employed by BWSSB - reached an open manhole in CV Raman Nagar after midnight. One of the men went into the manhole in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, around 12.30am, without any protective gear.
When the first man did not come out of the hole, another man entered.
Soon, the two men could not breathe as the deadly fumes engulfed them. Hearing their screams for help, their driver, Dhavathi Naidu (40), also entered the manhole.
Naidu was not able to rescue his colleagues, and all three of them died.
Their bodies were retrieved a few hours later.