Kolkata, Feb 3 Alimuddin Sheikh, a contractor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) was arrested on Monday for engaging three workers for manual scavenging on Sunday morning, leading to their demise.
The three had been engaged for scavenging and manual cleaning of a sewerage drain pipe within Bantala leather complex on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Besides this, there is another serious complaint against Alimuddin Sheikh by the family members of the deceased.
They have claimed that the arrested contractor lured the three now deceased workers with promises of engaging them in real estate construction work and thus encouraged them to relocate to Kolkata from their respective districts.
However, the family members have complained, that instead of engaging them in construction work they were given the work of scavenging and manual cleaning of KMC drain pipes.
The police will now investigate why he took advantage of the poverty and ignorance of the three men about the extreme hazards involved in scavenging and manual cleaning of drain pipes.
However, the question that is being asked is whether the responsibility of the KMC ends with the arrest an outsourced contractor?
Questions are also being raised on how the authorities of the largest civic body in West Bengal can avoid the responsibility of monitoring whether their outsourced contractors are engaging labourers in banned hazardous activities and that, too, without adopting the minimum safety norms.
Although KMC authorities have announced that they will provide a compensation of Rs 10,00,000 to the family of each victim, questions also remain on whether compensation can make up for the loss of human lives.
The matter becomes even more serious since last week, a Bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia ordered a complete ban on manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in six major metropolitan cities including Kolkata.
The Apex Court directed the heads of the six municipal bodies in these cities to file an affidavit at the apex court by February 13, explaining the steps taken to stop this practice and how and when the system has been completely stopped in respective cities.
Now with the next hearing in the matter being scheduled at the Apex Court on February 19, KMC insiders feel the authorities might have to face uncomfortable and embarrassing questions there on the day of the next hearing.
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