CHENNAI:Former BJP state president K Annamalai on Sunday expressed deep shock and anguish over the tragic death of a sanitation worker who reportedly inhaled toxic fumes while engaged in cleaning a sewage canal at Tirupati Nagar main road in Kolathur, the constituency of Chief Minister M K Stalin.

In a statement, Annamalai said, "It is deeply distressing to learn that Kuppan, a contract sanitation worker, lost his life after being exposed to poisonous gases during the sewage cleaning operation. Two other workers, Shankar and Hariharan, who were working alongside him, are currently battling for their lives under intensive care at a hospital."

The BJP leader recalled that it has been barely ten days since three sanitation workers died under similar circumstances in Tiruchirappalli's Thiruverumbur, and lamented that another life has now been lost in the Chief Minister's own constituency.

"Across the country, Tamil Nadu continues to record the highest number of sanitation worker deaths. The DMK government's continued apathy and failure to ensure adequate safety gear for these workers is nothing short of criminal negligence, " he charged.

Stating that such recurring incidents can no longer be dismissed as mere accidents, Annamalai accused the State government of "systematically endangering the lives of sanitation workers."

"How many more lives must be sacrificed to your government's incompetence, Hon'ble Chief Minister MK Stalin?" he questioned.