On 28 August, 2019 four men have died from Udaipur district of Rajasthan. The reason for their death is suffocation and inhalation of toxic/poisonous gas while working inside the sewer. On the day of incidence, Thansingh (22), Pralhad (24), Kailash (18), Dharmraj (23) were working on the site. The incident happened when Kailash and Thansingh opened the lid of the chamber (sewer) to dwell inside and work. As they went inside and there was no movement for a while from them, their fellow worker, Pralhad who was a tractor driver, went inside the chamber but soon disappeared. To search him, Dharmraj, who was a JCB driver, too went inside. All of them succumbed to poisonous gas inside the chamber. Later their bodies were rescued from the chamber which was 19 meter deep, and were taken to the hospital where they were declared dead.
Families of deceased persons received compensation of 4,50,000/-Rs from the company for which they were working. They were also given 10, 000/-Rs for the funeral rites. District collector has also given 1,00, 000/- Rs to each family.
As the fact finding team visited the home of Dharmraj Meena, they come to know that the FIR has been registered under section 304-A, although the deceased belonged to the ST category. The FIR was not registered under SC/ST prevention of Atrocity Act, 1989 and Prevention against Manual Scavenging, 2013.
Upon visiting the home of Kailash Meena, the team got to know that he used to live with his mother, father and three sisters. And he was working for D.K. Agrawal Company for a year. They also told the team that on the day of the incident, they have got the call and were told that Kailash was hospitalised for some minor illness. As his family reached the hospital, they have witnessed the truth.
Both these families have filed the case in the court. They are given legal assistance by Jan Sahas.
