Ranipet: A worker, who was engaged in cleaning the septic tank at Andal Leathers, a factory being run by SIPCOT (State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu) in Tamil Nadu's Ranipet district was killed after release of poisonous gas. Other three workers, who were taken ill, are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The deceased has been identified as Tamil Selvam(35), who hailed from Sathupperi in Vellore. The injured workers are Raja(47) who hailed from from Veesi Mottur area, Mahendran (40) from Puliangannu area and Ramadoss (33) from Vazaipandal. They were involved in cleaning the tannery waste collection tank at the factory.
Sources said while they were engaged in cleaning the sewage tank, there was a sudden release of poisonous gas. Tamil Selvam died on the spot. Raja, Mahendran and Ramadas too fell ill and were rushed to a hospital, where they are undergoing treatment. They are stated to be out of danger, sources added. The Ranipet Sipcot police have registered a case and are investigating the incident. Ranipet Collector S Valarmathi visited the accident site and conducted spot investigation.
According to Ministry of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, the National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation has not conducted any survey of deaths due to manual scavenging in Tamil Nadu. It also said there was no report of death due to Manual Scavenging (cleaning of human excreta) as defined under section 5 of the MS Act, 2013.
"There is no deaths due to manual scavenging in Tamil Nadu. However, 43 persons have lost their lives due to hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks and non observance of safety precautions prescribed under the "Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Rules, 2013"," Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha last year.
