Two decades, 49 workers die in AMC's gutters, zero action taken

In the last two decades, 49 workers have died in sewers and manholes while working for civic body. In fact, since 1996, not even one person has been punished for such deaths. There is also no record of the AMC carrying out investigation into what led to these 49 deaths, say activists. It should be noted that on Sunday four labourers were killed while doing maintenance work near the tank at the AMC's storm water pumping station. This however was not a case of death in sewer.

Purshottam Solanki of Manav Garima who has helped get compensation to at least 24 such victims said that despite so many deaths not much is being done to prevent such incidents. "I had sought information about their death. They are either hired by the civic body or work on contract bases. As of 2019, 49 deaths have been registered but not even one person responsible for sending these men into places like manholes and gutters with safety gears have been punished," said Solanki.

He said the civic body has not even blacklisted any contractors after such incidents. "This shows that the civic body is casual about the loss of these lives. Moreover, no investigations have been carried out by the AMC into such deaths and if they have no one has seen the reports," said Solanki.

AMC commissioner Vijay Nehra when contacted said that action would have definitely been taken. "But I need to check the records," said Nehra.

Pankaj Zapadia, an advocate who has pursued several such cases said that earlier only an accidental death case would be registered. "Now FIRs are being registered. But it is true that no conviction has happened and there are several reasons for it," said Zapadia.

He said in many cases once the victim's family gets the compensation they are not interested in pursuing the case because it is a long drawn process. "As a result many enter into a compromise and no one gets punished. Moreover, he said many social workers who also help the family of such victims don't pursue the legal aspects very diligently," said Zapadia.

Another factor he says is that the victim also does not believe that it is a crime. "It may be illegal to ask a man to go down into a manhole. But the victims family does not see it as an illegal activity. For them it is an accident that occurred during the course of a work and hence they are not interested in getting anyone punished," said Zapadia.

The third factor is the overall delay in such cases coming to trial. "Often it takes several years and by that time everyone has moved on," he said.

Sunday Incident

AMC officials said that the Sunday incident was a mystery because no one seems to know how the labourers ended up inhaling poisonous gases. "It is a matter of thorough investigation because they were doing general maintenance work of the motor and they did not have to enter the tank. It was a storm water pumping station and not a sewer. There is no possibility of having poisonous gas in or around it," said an official.