Gurugram: Two ‘forced’ to clean tank of sewage treatment plant die in Nuh

Two brothers died after allegedly inhaling toxic gas while cleaning the tank of a sewage treatment plant (STP) on Jogipur road in Nuh on Thursday evening

Two brothers died after allegedly inhaling toxic gas while cleaning the tank of a sewage treatment plant (STP) on Jogipur road in Nuh on Thursday evening.

One of the brothers entered the 25ft deep tank through a stairwell around 4:30pm on Thursday and fell unconscious. (Sourced)

The STP is run by the public health department. Police have registered an FIR against a junior engineer of the department under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC after family members of the victims alleged that they were forced to enter the tank despite their reluctance.

The deceased have been identified as Javed (34) and his younger brother Jahid (25) (both identified by their first names), residents of Sadai village in Nuh. While Javed worked as a pump operator, Jahid worked as a gardener at the plant, said police.

Quoting the FIR, police said around 4:30pm on Thursday, the victims were asked to enter the tank of the STP to clean it and fix its motor. One of the brothers entered the 25ft deep tank through a stairwell.

A police officer requesting anonymity said, “One of the brothers entered the tank, got onto a platform and started cleaning it. When he reached to the bottom of the tank, he felt dizzy and fell in the water inside the tank. The second brother went to help him, but even he became unconscious after breathing the poisonous gas that had built up in the tank.”

Police said they received information of the incident at 5.45pm, following which a team was rushed to the spot. The fire department was called in to rescue the victims. Sahoon Khan, fire officer of Nuh, said they dropped a leaf of a neem tree to check the level of toxicity at the tank and the leaf immediately got burnt. “We also threw a sack used for storing construction material in the tank as they have chemicals to nullify the impact of the toxic gases and then deployed a personnel to get the victims out of the tank. Our personnel too fell unconscious but he is stable now,” said Khan. The bodies were fished out of the tank around 6:30pm.

Officials said while Javed died on the spot, Jahid was rushed by other workers at the plant to the Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College in Nalhar, where he died during treatment.

Police said a board of medical doctors conducted the post-mortem, following which the bodies were handed over to the family on Friday. “Prima facie, it appears the victims died after inhaling the toxic gas. However, the exact cause of death will be known after the forensic and post-mortem report comes out,” said Bijender Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Nuh city police station.

Meanwhile, family members alleged that despite knowing the condition of the sewage treatment plant, the two brothers were forced to get into the tank and check if the motor was working or not.

Rani (identified by first name), a resident of Sadai village, said both the brothers worked as contractual workers at the STP for the last 12 years and the junior engineer forced them to enter the tank.

“It was not their job to operate or repair the motor of the STP... We want that their wives to be given jobs and money for the education of their children,” said Rani alleging that if the authorities would have taken them out of the tank on time, the two brothers would have survived.

Hamid Khan, father of the deceased, said his sons were the breadwinners of the family. “The officials responsible for their death should be arrested at the earliest and the government should provide free education to my grandchildren... we want the immediate intervention of senior officials,” he said.

Other employees at the plant have demanded that they should be provided safety equipment before entering the STPs.

“The family alleged that the victims were not sanitation workers but were still forced by the junior engineer to clean the tank. He had allegedly threatened to fire the victims. Based on the complaint of the victims’ family, an FIR was registered against the junior engineer,” said the station house officer.

The public health department could not be reached for a comment despite repeated calls and messages.