The three men choked to death, possibly after inhaling poisonous fumes (Representative Image) | Photo Credit: BCCL

Thane: In yet another appalling incident of manual scavenging claiming the lives of innocent daily wagers, three labourers died while cleaning a manhole in Maharashtra’s Thane district on Friday. The incident took place in the MIDC area of Dombivli, said personnel with the Kalyan-Dombivli fire brigade who were summoned to the spot around 4.15 pm.

An official familiar with the matter said that the three men’s deaths could have been the result of them inhaling poisonous fumes while cleaning the manhole. The deceased men have been identified as 30-year-old Devidas Pachge, 38-year-old Mahadeo Zope and 40-year-old Ghanshyam. Reports suggest that the men entered the manhole one after the other within a gap of a few minutes before being choked to death.

The deceased men were part of a contract team hired to clean the drains in the industrial area where the incident took place, fire officer Suresh Shinde of the Dombivli MIDC fire station told news agency PTI. Officials with the Tilak Nagar police in Dombivli have taken cognizance of the matter and are currently investigating the deaths. The role of possible safety regulation violations in the incident is also being probed, said a senior police officer.

It has been a quarter of a century since the Supreme Court of India signed a law in 1993 rendering manual scavenging to be an illegal form on labour. However, the law has been overlooked by ignorant contractors and labourers who are left with no choice than to put their lives on the line for a single day's meal.

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