Compensation by Delhi government to laborers died while cleaning sewer tank

New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) The Delhi government on Monday announced Rs 10 lakh each for the five laborers who died following inhalation of toxic gas while cleaning a sewer tank in the national capital and has ordered a probe seeking a report in three days.

A statement from Delhi's Labour Ministry said: "The Labour Minister wants a fact-finding inquiry conducted so as to decide the further course of action against the defaulting agencies/ firms."

Labour Minister Gopal Rai in a tweet announced the compensation.

"The Arvind Kejriwal government will provide Rs 10 lakh each to the families of laborers who passed away in the incident," Rai said.

Around 3 p.m on Sunday, the staff of DLF Green Apartments in west Delhi's Moti Nagar informed the police that five laborers were trapped in a sewerage, Deputy Commissioner of Police Monika Bhardwaj said.

They were pulled out and taken to the hospital where Sarfaraz, Pankaj, Raja, and Umesh were declared dead. Vishal, who was admitted to the RML Hospital in a critical condition, died during treatment, the officer said.

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan has called the incident "shameful and inhuman".

"The LJP has been demanding for years an immediate ban on manual cleaning of sewer drains. For this, a law should be made immediately to provide for strict action and the guilty should be punished with imprisonment of at least 10 years," he said in a statement.