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A sanitation worker engaged in manual scavenging and a man who attempted to rescue him died after allegedly inhaling toxic gas while manually cleaning a septic tank at a house near Kallakudi in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli district on September 2.
The deceased have been identified as Ganesh (25) from Kumbakonam, and Mukesh Kumar (26), a native of Bihar who was residing at the house where the incident occurred.
According to the police, Ganesh, who was employed by Sahana Septic Tank Cleaning, entered the septic tank without adequate protective equipment to clean it. He reportedly lost consciousness after inhaling toxic gas inside the tank. Seeing Ganesh collapse, Mukesh Kumar attempted to rescue him by entering the tank. He too became unconscious after being exposed to the gas. Both men died after inhaling the toxic gas, police said.
Speaking to TNM, Kallakudi police said that the postmortem reports are awaited and that an investigation into the incident is underway.
Similar incidents have been reported in the past. In Idukki, three men died after entering a drain to rescue a worker who had collapsed while cleaning it. Jayaram, who had entered the drain first, became unconscious, following which Sundarapandian and Michael entered in an attempt to rescue him. All three died.
In Chennai, three members of the same family, along with three others who attempted to rescue them, died after allegedly inhaling toxic gas from a septic tank.
The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 prohibits the employment of people as manual scavengers and provides for their rehabilitation. The section defines “manual scavenger” as a person who manually cleans, carries, disposes of, or handles human excreta in any manner in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or a pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or other such spaces or premises. This does not include a sewer or a septic tank.
The Act separately defines “hazardous cleaning” of a sewer or septic tank as “manual cleaning” by a worker without the employer providing them with protective gear, other cleaning devices, and without following safety precautions. This narrow and ambiguous definition is utilised by employers to hire workers to do manual scavenging.
This story was written by a student interning with TNM.
