One labourer died while another was hospitalised after their attempts to clean a chamber in Sangam Nagar, Banganga area on Monday “fell flat” due to the presence of gas. The labourers were hired on a contract basis and were working for a Noida-based company that was given a contract in 2015 to connect outfalls to secondary lines. Outfalls in the city are being connected to secondary lines to control the flow of these chambers into rivers. Under the drive, workers were connecting outfalls in area when the incident happened.
When Sufi Kul Islam climbed down the outfall, he fell unconscious due to strong gas presence. Looking at his condition, another worker, standing outside, climbed down the outfall with support. He too fell unconscious, but was pulled out. Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) was then informed about the incident. Coming to the rescue with Hydra machine, IMC personnel went down the outfall with mask and safety rope. Despite the mask, the personnel fell unconscious and was pulled up with a rope.
Further, rescuers from State Response Disaster Force (SRDF) were called in for help. The team went down the outfall and finally pulled up Islam. He hails from West Bengal. Even the rescuer from SRDF had breathing trouble in the outfall but somehow managed to stay conscious. The three, including Islam were taken to Aurobindo Hospital. Islam was declared ‘brought dead’ at the hospital. While the other two, who fell unconscious were hospitalised.
IMC sought a detailed report about the incident from additional municipal commissioner Sandeep Soni. He, after probing into the incident, will submit report to IMC commissioner Asheesh Singh. There are as many as 1,157 outfalls, for which tapping to secondary lines is going on. This is not first incident, previously identical incidents have taken Rambagh area in 2016.
