Ghaziabad: An initial inquiry by the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam into the deaths of five men inside a sewer line in Krishna Kunj locality of Ghaziabad has brought to the fore negligence and laxity on part of the officials of the contractor company, which was laying the 47km long sewer lines.
Following the incident on Thursday, the UP government has blacklisted the contractor company and directed that it not be allowed to take part in future contracts. The five workers went into the line one by one, to save a co-worker who had fallen inside. They all died due of suffocation.
“The entire area near the Krishna Kunj had received heavy rainfall and leachate also seeped into the ground due to previously dumped solid waste. This probably led to the formation of gases and the line was devoid of oxygen. This caused the men to suffocate. The initial report prepared by us has highlighted negligence in supervision by the contractor,” GS Srivastava, chief engineer, UP Jal Nigam, said.
“The supervision at the site is to be done by the contractor company. A further supervision is taken up the UP Jal Nigam from time to time. The contractor company failed to abide by the terms and conditions of the ‘safety code’ which is part of the contract. We are sending the report to our headquarters,” he said.
The officials said a team of engineers, headed by a chief engineer, will also visit Ghaziabad for taking up a detailed inquiry. The initial inquiry also states that the sewer line was under construction and without any sewage.
{{/usCountry}}The officials said a team of engineers, headed by a chief engineer, will also visit Ghaziabad for taking up a detailed inquiry. The initial inquiry also states that the sewer line was under construction and without any sewage.
{{/usCountry}}“It was closed for the past 20-25 days and some gases like carbon monoxide developed inside it. The workers were to work on the ground level and they were connecting a pipe to the manhole which was hardly a foot below the ground level. But somehow they opened the lid of the manhole in order to fix the connection and one of them fell in. The information of connecting the line was not conveyed to us and no company official was present at the site either. There has been a violation of the safety code,” Srivastava said.
Following the incident, officials of the Jal Nigam have issued renewed instructions that in case a manhole is opened, at least five-six other nearby manholes should also be opened simultaneously to allow release of gases; presence of oxygen should be verified by lowering a detector lamp into the manhole; entry for workers into the line should not be allowed except under the supervision of a junior engineer; and safety belts with ropes should be provided to workers.
Besides the initial inquiry report, a magisterial inquiry is already underway and a report will be submitted to the Ghaziabad district magistrate within two weeks.
The incident has also raised the alarm for other Ghaziabad agencies. Kanchan Verma, vice-chairperson of the Ghaziabad Development Authority, has directed that no worker at any site will be allowed to enter a sewer or drainage line.
“I have directed that there will be no manual intervention and no worker should be allowed to go inside. The officials must take all precautions during any cleaning activity in cases where human intervention is required. Otherwise, all works should be taken up by machines,” she said.