Borivali manhole death: Didn’t get complaints about sewage choke-ups, says BMC

The police have booked a hotelier in connection with the death of a sanitation worker in Borivli West The worker lost his life while cleaning a 20footdeep sewage lineOn Friday afternoon the road in front of Gokhale School at Shimpoli was as bustling as usual with no visible sign of the tragedy that had occurred less than 24 hours earlier A nearby vendor who witnessed the incident recounted that one of the two sanitation workers lost his life while cleaning a chamber in front of Gupta Chana Bhandar adjacent to the popular K Bhagat Tarachand HotelldquoThe incident happened around 330 pm on Thursday and the fire brigade arrived within 15 to 20 minutes We heard that the workers were called by the Tarachand Hotel The chamber is really deep and the MFB pulled out the body after some time This is the first such incident in this areardquo the vendor saidAt the Kandarpada Hindu crematorium over 50 people gathered for the last rites of Wakode His cousin Ravindra Bhotkar who was with him during the tragic incident was also present at the crematoriumBhotkar said ldquoWe received a call on Thursday afternoon from Tarachand Hotel on Shimpoli Road to clean four sewage manholes Initially we asked them to pay Rs 2500 but after negotiation we agreed for R2000 We went there at around 3 pm and cleaned three chambers inside the compound and the fourth one was on the road We opened the chamber Sunil went inside while I was diverting the traffic before entering it But before I could do anything he slipped inside I got inside but couldnrsquot find him Then someone called the fire brigaderdquo He added that they both were not equipped with any safety gear and no one gave them or instructed them to wear itShila Gavai a sister of Sunil Wakode told midday that he was with the BMC as a contractual labourer and worked between 6 am to 2 pm He took such odd jobs to make ends meet ldquoHe has been doing such work for the last 15 years and we are in shock after the last incident They havenrsquot been provided any safety gear and asked to go inside the deep chambersrdquo she saidSidharth Wakode father of the deceased said no one takes care of the safety of sanitation workers ldquoHe was so young Now how can his family wife and two sons Sangharsh and Yash survive without his supportrdquoThe sewage line which is around 15 feet deep is under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC ldquoWe didnrsquot receive any complaints about sewage chokeups The workers were called by the hotel and they opened up the chamber without intimating the BMC We received the information after one of two workers was trapped inside The BMC employees went to Borivali Police Station to file a complaint but the Police said they are already processing it and there cannot be two FIRs in one caserdquo said Sandhya Nandedkar BMC Assistant Commissioner and Ward Officer of R WardAn official from Borivali Police Station informed midday on Friday afternoon that they are in the process of filing a report against the manager of K Bhagat Tarachand Hotel ldquoThe hotel manager asked the workers to clean the sewage chambers The person accompanying Sunil Wakode told us that while they were accustomed to cleaning sewage lines they might not have realised how deep this one was BMC employees came to file a complaint but we informed them that the process was already underway as his relatives had already reached out to usrdquo the official statedDr Ajay Gupta superintendent of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivli mentioned that the deceased worker was initially admitted as an unidentified patient ldquoHis relatives arrived at the hospital later The postmortem was conducted on Friday and we are awaiting the reportrdquo he addedWhen the midday team visited K Bhagat Tarachand Hotel they found the business operating as usual with many customers waiting in line The owner declined to comment on the incident330pmTime of the incident on August 8Not the first timeManual scavenging banned under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 remains a recurring issue in Mumbai and nearby areas despite the risk of severe penalties under Section 8 of the ActApril 23 2024 50yearold worker Raghu Solanki died after entering a sewer line without safety gear at Raheja Towers Malad West Two others Javed Mendi Hasan Shaikh and a man who tried to save his teenage brother also diedApril 9 2024 four sanitation workers in Virar CitymdashShubham Parkar 28 Amol Ghatale 27 Nikhil Ghatale 24 and Sagar Tendulkar 29mdashdied from toxic gas inhalation while working in a sewage treatment plant without safety gearMarch 22 2024 Ramlagan Kevat and his sons Suraj and Vikas died after falling into a septic tank at Malwani Malad West