Over a fortnight after two hapless workers died in a sewerage manhole at Vanasthalipuram, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has topped the scores for ‘Safe cleaning of sewer and septic tanks through mechanised equipment and availability of PPEs/safety equipment in case [of] manual entry..’ during third party assessment for ‘Water+’ status given by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The civic body passed the muster by scoring 20 out of 20 allotted marks for the said indication, against which the certification mentioned that availability of mechanised equipment and PPE/safety equipment was 76 to 100%.
The two workers who died of asphyxiation after entering the manhole, reportedly at the contractor’s behest, did not wear any of the PPE gear, neither were they supported by oxygen.
While GHMC officials categorically denied having given permission to the contractor to employ manual labour, fact of the matter is that the corporation does not spell out use of safety gear or PPE during sewer/drain cleaning operations as one of the conditions in its tender documents.
GHMC scored cent per cent in all the nine categories -- assessed with 94% safe discharge of sewage, 75 to 100% of required capacity for mechanised cleaning, 76 to 100% treatment capacity and operational efficiency, 100% maintenance of municipal drains, 100 percent recovery of operational and maintenance cost, and 90 to 100% grievance resolution.
