North Delhi sewer deaths: Victims’ families return to their home towns

Both families were given ₹50,000 cash at the mortuary by representatives of the company for conducting the last rites

Soon after their marriage 16 years ago, Nandu Ram Ahirwar and his wife Ganeshi Ahirwar left Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh and came to Delhi for a better livelihood for their children. Despite earning just ₹600 per day and living in labourer camps at building construction sites in Narela, the couple admitted their three children – a son and two daughters aged 15, 9 and 6 – to a nearby government school and ensured they did not lead the life of labourers.

The DDA housing project in Narela. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

However, the family’s dreams where shattered on Friday when Ahirwar died along with his 37-year-old co-worker, Vijay Mochi, of asphyxiation after being allegedly made to descend into a sewer at a DDA multi-storeyed housing complex constructed by a private construction company in Narela Pocket 6 in north Delhi. The tragedy forced Ahirwar’s wife and three children to return to their hometown with his body in a hearse van arranged by the construction company officials after an autopsy at Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial hospital mortuary on Saturday.

“My husband and I were illiterate, but we wanted to give our children a better future through education. However, the almighty had something else in store for us. My husband was just a labourer. He was not skilled at cleaning sewers. I am sure the contractor or supervisor offered him extra money for doing the manual scavenging job, otherwise he would not have risked his life for the dangerous work. Even if they wanted him to clean the sewer, they should have given him safety equipment and told him about the toxic gases inside,” said Ahirwar’s wife Ganeshi, 40, sitting in a ground outside the mortuary.

The family members of the second victim, Vijay Mochi, also came from their hometown, Begusarai in Bihar, for a better livelihood but the tragedy forced them to return with his body in another hearse van. Mochi earned ₹400 per day as daily wage while his wife Poona Devi, 33, also a labourer for the same company, earned ₹200 per day. The couple’s two children, aged 16 and 12, study in the local government school in Narela.

“I was returning to the labourers camp for lunch when people told me that my cousin, Vijay Mochi, had died after falling into a sewer. Security guards did not let me reach the spot. Then I went to the hospital and learnt that Mochi and another labourer had died after inhaling toxic gases in the sewer hole,” said Sajan Kumar, Mochi’s relative.

Both families were given ₹50,000 cash at the mortuary by representatives of the company for conducting the last rites of their loved ones, said a police officer present there.

When HT visited the Pocket 6 residential society, its main gate was closed and the guards there did not allow anyone to enter the premises. A local DDA official said police had sealed the area.