Three die while cleaning septic tank in Pune

Three workers died of suspected suffocation while cleaning a sewage treatment plant of a private housing society at Wagholi in Pune

PUNE In a tragic incident, three workers died of suspected suffocation while cleaning a sewage treatment plant of a private housing society at Wagholi in Pune on Friday morning.

Three workers died of suspected suffocation while cleaning a sewage treatment plant of a private housing society at Wagholi in Pune. (HT PHOTO)

The cleaning was conducted manually by three persons when the workers entered into the septic tank. The first worker while cleaning the tank did not respond. So the other two also entered to search for him and in the process died inside the plant.

By afternoon officials from the fire brigade department of Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) recovered the body of third person.

The deceased have been identified as Nitin Gond (45) of Buldhana, Satishkumar Choudhari (35) of Uttar Pradesh, and Ganesh Palekrao (28) of Nanded.

All three of them employed by a contractor Gajanan Karambhatti.

The police have booked the contractor and filed a First Information Report (FIR) under section 304(a) of IPC which is about causing death by negligence.

The Police have also invoked additional sections under Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act.

“When the first person did not respond after entering into the plant, another worker went inside. When both of them did not respond, the third person entered into underground plant. However, all three of them have died and we have booked the contractor under different sections,” said senior police inspector Gajanan Pawar.

According to PMRDA officer, the workers were working in an 18-foot deep drainage-cum-septic tank.

The workers started to clean the tank at 6am when three of them entered inside the 18-foot deep chamber, fire brigade official said.

Manual scavenging in India is prohibited under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 which aimed to eliminate insanitary latrines alongside tracking the rehabilitation of manual scavengers in other occupations and conducting periodic surveys. The Act has provisions for stringent penalties, for direct or indirect employment of any person in hazardous cleaning of sewers or septic tanks by any person, local authority or agency.

According to the Act, the first instance of its contravention is punishable with imprisonment of up to two years or a fine up to ₹2 lakh or both. If a worker dies while performing such work, even with safety gear and other precautions, the employer is mandated to pay compensation of ₹10 lakh to the family.

Earlier in March, three workers and another person had died inside a septic in Loni Kalbhor area of Pune.