Delhi govt pays Rs 3.5 lakh each to families of labourers

On the directions of National Human Rights Commission, Delhi Government has paid Rs 3.5 lakh each to the families of two men who were killed while cleaning a sewer in Rohini area of the national capital in June, 2012.
According to an NHRC statement released today, in response to the Commission's intervention, the Government of NCT of Delhi has informed that it has paid Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kins of Shankar (40) and Manoj (19), who died while cleaning a sewer in Sector 3, Rohini in the national capital at the instance of a private contractor.

The incident was reported by a newspaper on June 22, 2012 and the Commission had taken suo moto cognizance of the same and issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Delhi Government and the Chairman, DDA calling for reports.
Earlier, the Commission did not accept the contention of the DDA that the labourers were engaged by a private contractor and therefore, the liability to pay compensation did not rest with it.
The Commission had observed that the plea was devoid of merit. The DDA failed in its duty of supervision and could not escape the liability.
During the course of enquiry, the Commission also found that the families of the two deceased were earlier paid Rs 1.5 lakh each by the private hotel owner who had made an unauthorized sewer connection for a toilet.

When the sewer got blocked, he engaged these two labourers to clean it without following any precautionary measures. One of the labourers had never done the job of cleaning the sewer. Both the labourers succumbed to poisonous gas inside the sewer while removing the blockage.