11 sanitation workers had entered a septic tank on Thursday night in Dhokali, Thane. Septic tanks have a deficiency of oxygen and a high concentration of methane and hydrogen sulphide gas, due to which there are high chances of workers experiencing suffocation.
In Thane, out of the 11 workers who had entered the septic tank to clean it, 3 of them died on the spot and 5 have been admitted in a hospital. The deceased are Amit Puhal (20), Aman Badal (21), Ajay Bumbak (24).
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It is estimated that over 600 sewer workers die every day. Even after the Supreme Court banned the practice of manual scavenging in 2014 and ordered to mechanise the work completely, it's still a prevalent practice in the financial capital of India. Which means the work that they are doing at the behest of a private contractor is hired by the government.
The city produces 200 million litres of sewage and to deal with this sewage, the city employs 30,000 sanitation workers, that is 1 worker for every 66,000 litres of sewage. The safety measures provided to them aren't sufficient as their mask itself has a caution that it's 'not appropriate at places that have oxygen deficiency'. Gumboots and gloves cannot act as a preventive measure to clean all the waste that goes down the drain.
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