The Manual Scavenging Act clearly prohibits anyone from entering a live manhole without proper safety gear, according to BWSSB chairman Tushar Girinath.

“It is very unfortunate that this has happened,” he said. Girinath said it had been wrongly reported that it was maintenance work. “It was the project of laying lines between KR Puram and Kadubeesanahalli where in between, there are manholes,” he said. The contract was given to Ramky, which had not completed the work. And the chief engineer had given them a notice as this manhole was overflowing and was regularly collapsing, he added. “Of course, criminal cases have been registered and the BWSSB will also take legal action against the contractor. But for that, we will have to examine the legal clause as the project was signed following World Bank guidelines,” Girinath said.

An internal inquiry has been ordered to examine what made the contractor breach rules and allow people to enter the manhole at night and what were the procedural lapses.

The earlier deaths were in the 110 villages where the BWSSB has no network. In a death in 2011-12, the BWSSB paid a compensation of over Rs 10 lakh, he said. Rules will be strengthened to suspend area supervisors in case of accidents, he said.