Two men died after they inhaled poisonous gas while cleaning a septic tank in a gated community named Plaza Green Acres in Perungudi near Chennai. The deceased have been identified as P Periyasamy and D Dhatchanamoorthy, both 38 years old, who were employed by a cleaning company in Thoraipakkam. As per reports, the two were regularly employed by the cleaning company to clean the septic tanks at the gated community in Kamaraj Nagar for the past five years. However, on Wednesday, June 29, they succumbed after inhaling toxic gas inside the tank.
The two men reportedly began cleaning the colony’s tanks at 1 pm on Wednesday, by using trucks to empty them and later climbing into them. At 6.30 pm, they opened a tank in Block B of the gated community, which was about 20 feet deep and 15 feet wide, to clean it. As per the Times of India, Periyasamy opened the tank and began to enter it without wearing safety gear, and within minutes, he collapsed inside. Seeing this, Dhatchanamoorthy entered the tank to rescue Periyasamy but he fainted too.
Fire and Rescue services were pressed into service and rushed to spot after receiving information about the incident. The New Indian Express reported that the ambulance crew declared Periyasamy dead on the spot, Dhatchanamoorthy was taken to a private hospital nearby. However, he later succumbed, at around 8.30 pm.
The Thoraipakkam police have registered a case under Sections 336 (Negligent act endangering human life) of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as well as under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The police have arrested two people in connection with the case — S Saravanan, a supervisor with the cleaning company, and S Krishnan, the apartment’s secretary. No action has been taken against the Greater Chennai Corporation in this regard.
Manual scavenging is banned under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. While this caste-based practice was first banned in India in 1993, it was made a punishable offence in 2013, where anyone employing a manual scavenger, directly or indirectly, would be punished with imprisonment for a term or a penalty which may extend to Rs 50,000, or both.
The incident comes days after a 26-year-old man named Nelson, who was engaged in cleaning a sewer pipeline in Medhavaram, died of asphyxiation. He and his colleague both inhaled poisonous fumes and collapsed, and while they were rushed to the hospital, Nelson was declared dead while his colleague Ravikumar is said to be in a critical condition. The contractor and his supervisor, who employed Nelson and Ravikumar to clean the sewer pipeline, have been arrested.