JOIN USThe Delhi government paid Rs 2 lakh each to the families of two persons who died while cleaning sewers here.
The compensation comes after the NHRC intervened in the matter.
Shankar, 40, and Manoj, 19, died in June 2012 while cleaning a sewer in Rohini sector 3.During an inquiry, the National Human Rights Commission found that a private hotel owner had made an unauthorised sewer connection for a toilet. When the sewer got blocked, he engaged the duo to clean it.
No precautionary measures were taken during this. Shankar and Manoj succumbed to poisonous gas inside the sewer while removing the blockade.
“We had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and issued notice to the chief secretary of Delhi and the chairman of the Delhi Development Authority asking for reports,” the NHRC statement said.
The DDA had contended that the workers were engaged by a private contractor and the liability to pay compensation did not rest with it.
The commission, however, had pointed out that the DDA had failed in its duty of supervision and could not escape the liability.
Earlier, the families of the deceased were paid Rs 1.5 lakh each by the private hotel owner, the inquiry found.