Sewer deaths: Jal Board denies awarding contract to any agency

Police looking for errant contractor

The police have sought some details from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for their probe into the death of three workers while cleaning a sewer line in south-east Delhi's Lajpat Nagar on Sunday, even as the board maintained that it hadn’t authorised any agency to carry out the work there.

The police said the contractor, who employed the workers, had been on the run and that a manhunt had been launched for him.

Details sought

“We have sought details from the Delhi Jal Board about the contract. The contract to clean the sewer pipe was awarded to either an agency or a private contractor. We are awaiting its reply,” said a senior police officer.

Water Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, however, said that the DJB did not have any work in the area. “It did not even authorise any agency or contractor to carry out work there. The DJB uses mechanical cleaners to desilt big drains. In cases where machines cannot reach, beldaars are pressed into service," he said.

Safety equipment

The Minister also claimed that even beldaars are allowed to enter sewers only after being equipped with proper safety gears such as gas detectors, masks, gloves and gum boots.

Earlier in the day, National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) chairman Manhar Valjibhai Zala directed the Delhi Police to invoke relevant provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 in the case.