Jaipur: Four workers who entered the septic tank of a Jewellery manufacturing company in Jaipur to clean the sludge have died while four others fainted due to poisonous gas late on Monday night.
Chaksu ACP Surendra Singh said that the deceased have been identified as Sanjeev Pal, Himanshu Singh, Rohit Pal and Arpit Yadav, all from Uttar Pradesh. Two workers who got fainted are in critical condition and are undergoing treatment at a private hospital, while two others were discharged after first aid. He said that the FSL teams were sent on the spot while relatives of the deceased have lodged an FIR and the investigation is going on.
As per reports, the workers were allegedly sent into the septic tank to clean the sludge and recover the gold and silver particles lost during washing of the precious metals with chemicals.
The workers who were employed through an agency, first refused to go inside the tank but later agreed and were allegedly sent without safety equipments.
At around 8 pm, workers Amit and Rohit entered the tank. After some time, both of them started shouting feeling unconscious. To save them, 6 more workers got down, but all got fainted and were taken to a private hospital where doctors declared Sanjeev Pal, Himanshu Singh, Rohit Pal, residents of Ambedkar Nagar in UP and Arpit Yadav, resident of Sultanpur, dead. Ajay Chauhan and Rajpal were admitted for treatment while Amit Pal and Suraj Pal were discharged.
The Rajasthan Human Rights Commission has taken cognizance on the incident and issued notices to the concerned officials to submit detailed report.
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot cited a series of deaths of sanitation workers while cleaning the septic tanks and questioned the government’s inaction.
In Social Media post he said “At least 10 sanitation workers have died while cleaning the septic tanks in Bikaner, Deeg, and Jaipur. It seems that the state government is not serious about the safety of these workers. Despite the government’s announcement of buying more cleaning machines, the plan remains on paper. When will the government act?”
