MUMBAI: A 47-year-old labourer died and his co-worker was injured after the two entered a manhole while cleaning an internal drainage line of a private building in Santacruz East on Monday morning. The accident occurred at around 11 am.
They were allegedly hit by the poisonous gases and, losing consciousness, fell inside. “We will also check with the society whether they asked the workers to open it. We do not exactly know why it was opened, as this was internal work being carried out by the society, which had nothing to do with the manhole. Kashte opened it and went in, he added, but fell inside. Thakur tried to rescue him but also fell in. The Vakola police have registered an FIR against Pawar for allegedly causing death by negligence. No arrests had been made till Monday evening. “Members of the society had called the workers to clear the internal sewer line. The police are investigating whether adequate safety precautions were followed and who was responsible for allowing the workers to enter the manhole.
The two men had been engaged by members of Bhavya Niketan Housing Society on Golibar Road No 8 to clean the choked internal sewer line, according to the BMC and police. They were subsequently rescued by the Mumbai Fire Brigade and taken to the nearby V N Desai Hospital, where Santosh Kashte, 47, was declared dead. Ajay Thakur, 30, was admitted to the MICU and was reported to be stable.
Because of the choked line, the building’s security guard, who was an eye-witness to the incident, told HT that the contractor, Vilas Pawar, and the two workers arrived in the morning after sewage began spilling out.
Neither worker was a BMC employee and the civic body had not been informed about the work, the police said. The workers opened a manhole outside the society and lowered themselves into it to carry out the cleaning, according to the police. A BMC official said that CCTV footage showed the workers removing the grill and opening the manhole. “We will submit everything to the police,” he said. Pawar suggested that cleaning the line through the manhole would be easier, and asked the workers to open it, according to him. They opened the BMC manhole outside the society and fell inside while cleaning the drainage line,” said Navnath Ghuge, senior police inspector, Vakola Police Station. A police officer said a case would also be registered against the society members for allegedly assigning the work to private workers without informing the BMC.
