Sanitation worker deaths: NHRC issues notice to state government

The notice, issued to the Haryana chief secretary and director general of police (DGP) on Thursday, has asked for a detailed report to be submitted within four weeks, officials said

A day after four sanitation workers allegedly died after inhaling toxic gases while cleaning a 10-foot-deep underground sewer without any safety gear at QRG Hospital in Faridabad, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to Haryana government, taking suo motu cognizance of a media report about the incident which took place on Wednesday.

The NHRC has also asked authorities for updates on the status of the FIR registered in the matter and compensation, if any, to be given to the kin of the deceased workers. (Representative image)

The notice, issued to the Haryana chief secretary and director general of police (DGP) on Thursday, has asked for a detailed report to be submitted within four weeks, officials said.“The report is expected to include measures that the government has already or is likely to adopt to prevent such gross violation of the human rights of poor and underprivileged people, who are susceptible to being employed for this type of manual scavenging without any mechanical device by the public/private organisations,” the NHRC notice said.

“A case has been registered against the hospital and the cleaning company for negligence and further investigation is underway,” Mahender Verma, assistant commissioner of police, Old Faridabad, said.

The case was registered against the operators of QRG Hospital and Santushti Allied under Section 304 part 2 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that carries a maximum punishment of 10 years, Section 9 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and Section 3 of the SC/ST Act at Sector 17 police station late on Wednesday night, police said.

The NHRC has also asked authorities for updates on the status of the FIR registered in the matter and compensation, if any, to be given to the kin of the deceased workers.

The NHRC observed that sanitation workers are still being exposed to extreme danger and subjected to indignity despite specific Supreme Court judgments and guidelines issued by different government agencies. The deceased workers have been identified as Rohit Kumar, his brother Ravi Kumar, and Vishal and Ravi Goldar from Sanjay Camp in Delhi’s Dakshinpuri. They were contractual workers of a private company called Santushti Allied which cleaned the hospital sewerage system once a month.

“All the workers who died put their lives at stake for a meagre sum of ₹450. They were daily wage earners and had no permanent jobs. They got in touch with the cleaning company three to four months ago through two of their neighbours who are also sanitation workers,” Sachin, brother of Ravi Goldar, said.

According to Rajo Devi, the mother of Rohit and Ravi, her sons were the sole breadwinners of the family. “They moved to Faridabad in 2020 and got married the same year. Their wives are not educated and have small children. They are neither qualified nor equipped to work. We have been robbed of our loved ones and sustenance,” she said.

A spokesperson of QRG Hospital, meanwhile, said, “We are very saddened by this unfortunate incident and the loss of lives and we stand by the families in these difficult times. QRG Hospital has a contract with a company Santushti Allied for cleaning and maintaining the sewer pit, which has been going on for a few years now. Santushti Allied was solely responsible for the safety and security of their manpower deployed for this task, a practice adopted by most health care organisations. We are looking into the matter and will take necessary action. We are fully cooperating with the investigation of the matter by civic agencies.”

Satish Kumar, supervisor, Santushti Allied, said, “The deceased contractual employees were working for us for the past many months. We have a contract with the hospital for cleaning drainage lines, pits and other areas which are not that deep. The contract does not include sewerage cleaning and we do not know why the workers entered the underground sewer to clean it. We just received a call informing us of their deaths.”