delhi

Updated: Oct 21, 2018 23:55 IST

A 32-year-old man drowned while working inside a tank of a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) sewage pumping station in north Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on Sunday.

The victim, identified as Doman Ray, was equipped with an oxygen mask and a safety belt when he was sent inside the sewer tank to open a valve. Ray, however, couldn’t be pulled out in time when drain water started gushing into the 30-foot deep tank, eyewitnesses said.

Police said that Ray was employed on contract by KK Spun India Limited, a private company hired by the DJB to repair sewer lines in Jahangirpuri area.

“We have booked the firm for causing death by negligence and under sections of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act,” said AK Lall, additional deputy commissioner of police (northwest).

In the last seven years, 38 people have died while cleaning sewer lines or sewage treatment plants in Delhi.

This includes seven deaths that were reported from Delhi in the last six weeks.

According to the police, Ray was a native of Katihar in Bihar and had come to Delhi in search of work. He was hired by KK Spun India Limited and was primarily stationed at the DJB’s sewage pumping station in Jahangirpuri’s G-Block.

Ray’s colleague, Vipin Mandal, who is also an eyewitness to the accident, said their job involved regularly entering the dark sewer tank for opening /closing a valve or for cleaning it. The valve controls the flow of water into the sewer line. The sewer tank has iron rods at regular intervals that serve as stairs, Mandal said.

Mandal said Ray was on night duty with three other workers when the accident took place around 5.30am on Sunday. “Ray was asked to enter the sewer tank and open the valve. We helped him put on the oxygen mask and safety belt and lowered him into the tank that had little water at that time,” said Mandal.

“But the moment he opened the valve, I think a vacuum was created and he was sucked into the water hole. All I could hear was a feeble cry for help from him before he was consumed by the dirty water. It took us more than 15 minutes to fish him out by which time he was already dead,” said Mandal.

Mandal said a few supervisors were present at the site at the time of the accident and they responded by shouting for help and rushing Ray to a hospital. “We were using a dimly-lit torch during work as well as for the rescue operation. A better quality torch with brighter light could have helped us,” said Mandal.

Additional DCP Lall said the police were alerted about the death at around 7.30am by authorities of Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh where Ray had been rushed.

The officer said that prima facie, sending Ray inside the sewer didn’t constitute an offence. “We registered a case under the manual scavengers act to probe if there were safeguards in place and whether or not necessary precautions were taken,” Lall said .

Though police were yet to detain or interrogate officials of the private firm, they have questioned the three colleagues of Ray who were prresent at the time of the accident. “We are also looking into the reasons that caused the delay in pulling Ray out from the sewer tank,” said the officer.

Dinesh Mohaniya, the DJB vice chairman, said an enquiry has ordered.