38-year-old man dies while cleaning Gurugram manhole

According to preliminary investigation, was “forced” to enter the sewer line without any protective gear which resulted in his death, said police

A sanitation worker died and two others fell severely ill after inhaling poisonous gases while cleaning an underground sewer line without safety equipment in Sector 47, Gurugram, on Thursday, police said.

A security guard showing the sewer manhole, where the victim died on June 27. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The incident happened between 6pm and 7pm on Tuesday when a contractor, Mukim Ali, allegedly asked the three sanitation workers to clean a manhole at a traffic signal ahead of Park Hospital.

The deceased person was identified as 38-year-old Nur Islam Mandal of Balurghat in South Dinajpur, West Bengal. He lived in a rented accommodation near Bengali Market, Sector 49.

According to inspector Arjun Dev, station house officer of Gurugram Sadar police station, preliminary investigation revealed that Mandal was “forced” to enter the sewer line without any protective gear which resulted in his death. “He was pulled out by the two other workers after 10-15 minutes but it was too late,” said Dev.

“The contractor is on the run. We will arrest him soon. After his arrest, it will be clear which government agency he worked for,” said the officer, adding that the victim’s body was handed over to the family after autopsy and two other workers were undergoing treatment.

On the complaint of the victim’s wife, an FIR was registered against the contractor under section 304A (causing death by negligence) of Indian Penal Code and section 9 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and Their Rehabilitation Act at Gurugram Sadar police station on Wednesday night.

Tabjal Hussain, the brother-in-law of the deceased worker, told HT that Mandal was not keen to go for the cleaning work. “But the contractor put pressure on him to come. He was not provided with any safety gears for entering inside the sewer line and thus died,” he said.

Tabjal alleged the contractor’s associates informed them that the trio was taken to the spot to open the sewer covers to start cleaning the next morning. “However, later we got to know that Mandal was forced to enter the manhole and he fell unconscious from the gases. Afterwards, the rest two were also asked to get inside to pull him out and thus they also fell sick,” he alleged.

He also alleged that the incident had taken place at around 6.30pm and they were informed only by 11pm, following which they rushed to the hospital. “We were provided with no information on his condition but after reaching the hospital, we got to know he was brought dead. We were not even being allowed to see his body initially,” he alleged.

He said for the last few months, Mandal had started working as a sanitation worker. “However, his wife Mousumi and everyone else in the family had asked not to do it as it was risky. He had gone home and had returned a month ago and was unable to find a job and started to clean sewers again,” he said, adding that the contractor handed them ₹50,000 cash to transport the victim’s body to West Bengal.