india

Updated: Jun 27, 2019 00:00 IST

Four municipal corporation sweepers, three of them part-time workers, died of asphyxia at a public division disposal plant’s septic tank near Meat Market in Rohtak Wednesday, police said.

The deceased have been identified as permanent employee Anil Saini, 39, of Kaithal; part-time workers Sanjay Kumar, 26, of Uttar Pradesh , Dharmender, 35, and Ranjit Dhanak, 28, of Rohtak.

Parmender, in his complaint to police, said one Neeraj came to their house to call his brother Dharmender at public division’s disposal plant in Rohtak. He alleged: “Sandeep Dhankar, Vijender Hooda, Surjeet Kumar and Vishal Bansal directed my brother and three others to clean the septic tank. When my brother denied, they pressurised the workers and asked them to clean the tank, without any safety equipment. All of them later died due to asphyxia.”

Kamal Deep Rana, inspector, Shivaji Colony police station said four persons died due to asphyxia in a septic tank in Rohtak. “We have booked five persons — Rohtak Municipal Corporation worker Neeraj, junior engineer Sandeep Dhankar, executive engineer Vijender Hooda, subdivisional officer Surjeet Kumar and senior engineer Vishal Bansal — under sections 22, 7 and 9 of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. Section 3 of the SC/ ST Act, 1989 and section 304 of the Indian Penal Code were also added,” said Rana.

The bodies of all four have been fished out and sent for post-mortem examination at the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), police said.

Rohtak deputy commissioner RS Verma, who rushed to the spot, said: “We would make efforts to provide more safety tools to the sweepers.”

Sanjay Kumar, head of the sweepers said the municipal corporation has 14 permanent sweepers but the officials are allegedly forcing private sweepers to clean the tank without giving them safety equipment.