On Tuesday, four people, including three employees, died of suffocation while repairing the MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) wire in Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar of Samaypur Badli police station area. The information about the four people getting trapped in the sewer was received by the police and fire department at around 6:25 pm. A rickshaw puller had also landed in the sewer to help the three employees, but he too got stuck below.
The deceased have been identified as contractor Suraj Kumar Sahni (55), employee Bacchu Singh (54) and Pintu Raut (30). The rickshaw puller has been identified as Satish Kumar (40). On Wednesday morning, after conducting post-mortem of all the bodies, the police handed them over to the relatives. In the initial investigation, the police have come to know that all the four died due to suffocation due to poisonous gas.
On getting information about the incident, the rescue team worked for about nine hours late in the night, after which the bodies of all were pulled out from the sewer. At present, the police has registered a case and is taking further action. Outer Northern District Deputy Commissioner of Police Brijendra Kumar Yadav said that Suraj Singh Sahni, a resident of Tilak Nagar in Prem Nagar, used to take MTNL’s wire maintenance contracts for the last several years.
Human Rights Commission also issued notice
The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice against the Secretary, Delhi Police Commissioner and the Chairman of MTNL in connection with the death of four people in Delhi’s Rohini area. The commission has asked all the parties to submit a detailed report within four weeks. Taking suo motu cognizance of media reports, NHRC has issued this notice.
The commission has said that who is responsible for the deaths in this case, along with action against them, the relatives of the deceased have been asked to report the action including compensation and rehabilitation. Expressing concern, the commission has said that despite the Supreme Court’s decision and instructions and the intervention of the commission, workers are not being provided with safety equipment, but workers are dying in the sewer.
Two workers landed to repair the pipe, died due to inhalation of poisonous gas
Two employees, who had come for work in the water treatment plant (sewer treatment plant) of Delhi Jal Board located in Dallupura of New Ashok Nagar police station area, died on Wednesday due to suffocation. The laborers have been identified as Nitesh (25) resident of Khaspur, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh and Yashdev (35) resident of village Rataul, Loni, Ghaziabad. These laborers used to work with a contractor of Delhi Jalboard.
Both went inside the sewer in the evening, but after some time both fell unconscious. When no response was received, the information was given to the local police and fire department. Both were rushed to the nearby Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead. Based on preliminary investigation, it was found that both died due to inhalation of poisonous gas. At present, the police is investigating after registering a case of negligence in this regard.
East Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Priyanka Kashyap said that around 5:00 pm on Wednesday, her team got information that two people have become unconscious in the water treatment plant of Delhi Jal Board located in Dallupura. During the investigation, the police came to know that there is a large pipeline of water treatment plant below in the pit about six-seven feet deep.