CHENNAI: Minister for Municipal Administration KN Nehru on Friday said that police are investigating the reason for the death of three conservancy workers in Madurai.

“It is not clear whether they died after inhaling poisonous gas or accidentally fell into the well. Police have registered a case and are investigating to find out the exact cause of the death of three,” said Nehru, in reply to an urgent calling attention motion, introduced by AIADMK and VCK.

Nagapattinam VCK MLA Aloor Shanavas said that news reports about death of conservancy workers is coming week after week and a state like Tamil Nadu which is a leader in social justice should not allow manual scavenging.

Nehru replied that VRG constructions, a private contractor, is the in-charge of undertaking cleaning works. On Thursday, the private company without informing the Corporation Engineer or the officials concerned undertook repair work at 9 pm, which resulted in the death of three workers. The Minister also said that the Chief Minister had immediately directed the Madurai Corporation officials to hand over Rs 10 lakh each for the families of three deceased and collect the amount from the private contractor. However, AIADMK MLA Sellur Raju claimed that cleaning works in the well were undertaken due to the pressure from the Corporation officials.

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