Officials get High Court rap even as four workers die in hotel sewage tank

It also advised the State to carry out a proper exercise since the survey in respect of many corporations, show the number of scavengers as nil. The first bench, comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Pushpa Sathyanaraya, while passing orders on a progress report filed by the state in this regard, held, “The submissions made in the court suggests that it is only in the last week or so that the authorities have suddenly woken up to take action and that is why there is divergence between the report filed and the figures being referred to by the Additional Advocate General, showing a better performance.” 

Citing the submission made by the petitioner, Change India, that the Government survey of manual scavengers relate only to two Corporations - Chennai, Tiruchi and Thanjavur while for others the numbers is shown as nil, the bench raised doubts as to how scavengers would be non-existent in large municipalities. The case was posted to March 17 for further hearing. 

Meanwhile, on Tuesday four workers died of asphyxiation after they inhaled a poisonous gas while cleaning a sewerage tank of a private hotel at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam. One of them who was pulled out alive from the tank in an unconscious state was admitted to a hospital.