Civic body accused of ignoring safety of sewermen

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 27

Unions working for the welfare of sewermen accused the Municipal Corporation (MC) said sewermen were often forced to enter manholes without any safety gear. A 25-year-old sewer man had reportedly fallen ill after inhaling poisonous gas while cleaning a sewer lane in Dhandari area on Tuesday.

President of the Punjab Municipal Sewermen Employees Union Vijay Kumar said: “Safety gear is not being provided to sewermen for the cleaning of sewer lanes. There is no check on manual scavenging which has been banned.”

“A sewerman was hospitalised on Tuesday after he had fallen ill. He was discharged from the hospital next day. We demanded from the authorities concerned to take necessary steps for the safety of sewermen,” he said.

Meanwhile, State Convener of the Safai Karamchari Andolan Subash Desawar alleged that the sewermen were still being forced to work under unsafe conditions. “It is responsibility of the civic body to ensure the safety of sewermen on duty,” he said.

On the other hand, MC Superintending Engineer Rajinder Singh denied the allegations. He said: “A sewerman had just felt giddy when cover of a manhole was opened on Tuesday. He had not even entered the manhole. He is fine.”

He further said: “We always ensure safety of the sewermen. The safety gear is provided to sewermen whenever there is an emergency to go inside the manhole.”