Powai STP deaths: Safai Karamchari panel seeks report, questions compensation deal with victims’ families

NCSK seeks a detailed report on the deaths of two sanitation workers in Mumbai's STP tank, highlighting manual scavenging violations and safety lapses.

MUMBAI: A week after two sanitation workers died inside a sewage treatment plant (STP) tank in a Powai housing society, the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) has taken cognisance of the deaths and has asked the Mumbai Suburban Collector to file a detailed report on the incident and the action taken so far.

Powai STP deaths: Safai Karamchari panel seeks report, questions compensation deal with victims’ families

The move follows a complaint by Pune-based lawyer Sagar Ratan Charan, who termed the incident a clear case of manual scavenging, a practice outlawed under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

The report must include, as per the NCSK’s email, a copy of the FIR with a mention of the relevant sections of Manual Scavenging Act, 2013, assurance of a ₹30 lakh compensation to the victims’ families, over a ₹10 lakh life insurance paid to the families.

After the death of Akshay Mandal, 22, and Phulchand Kumar, 28, who went in to rescue an unconscious Mandal on Wednesday - Mandal died before reaching Hiranandani Hospital after they were rescued by the fire brigade, and Kumar later in the night at the hospital, the Powai police initially registered an accidental death report (ADR). On Friday, an FIR was filed against the deceased Kumar, the supervisor and owner of a private agency for not following proper safety precautions under the provisions of the Prevention of Manual Scavenging Act, 2013 on Friday. The workers were employed by Ultra Tech Pvt Ltd to clean the tank in the Raj Grandeur Housing Society in Powai.

Having helped arrange for the deceased victims bodies reach their families in their hometown, mandal in Jharkhand and Kumar from West Bengal, the Loktantrik Kamgar Union said both the families have been promised a compensation of ₹15 lakh each and ₹10 lakh from the employer, and ₹5 lakh from the housing society, on the agreement that they would not press charges forward against either of the parties.

“Despite the arrangement between the workers and the employer and housing society, which does not meet the criteria of the MS Act, it is now the responsibility of the Collector to ensure that the case goes forward. The responsibility of the incident falls on both the employer and housing society to ensure safety is ensured, which they didn’t, hence they should be named in the FIR, even if the family does not have the capacity to fight it,” said Charan.

The lawyer Charan, who has previously also alerted the NCSK in past incidents with sanitation workers, also asked the National Commission of Scheduled Castes to act on the incident, as well as the prime minister’s office. The latter forwarded the complaint and appointed an officer from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to look into the matter.