New Delhi, Apr 12 (PTI) The NHRC has issued notices to the Haryana government, a local body and a senior police official over a report that one person had died and three others suffered health complications while cleaning a sewage tank in Palwal district, officials said on Tuesday.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a statement said the incident happened on April 9, and the sewage tank cleaning was being carried out by the municipal council through a private company, which had further given a sub-contract to another company. Reportedly, the workers were "not provided safety gears equipment" by the contractor, it said.

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The NHRC said it has "taken a suo motu cognisance of a media report that one person died and three others were admitted to a hospital in a serious condition", after suffering health complications while cleaning a sewage tank in Palwal district of Haryana.

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The Commission has issued notices to the Haryana chief secretary, the chairman of the municipal council and the Superintendent of Police, Palwal, seeking a detailed report within six weeks. The report is expected to include the present health status of the three injured workers and the relief or rehabilitation provided to the aggrieved families, it said.

The NHRC has observed that "a large number of people have died within a short span of time while undertaking the sewage/septic tank cleaning work. It has been taking cognisance of such matters for quite some time now, and trying its best to sensitise the authorities to take all precautions during the time of cleaning of the sewage tanks so that precious human lives are not lost due to negligence".

It has further observed that in spite of specific judgments given by the Supreme Court and guidelines issued from time to time by different government agencies, the sewage cleaning workers are "still being exposed to extreme danger and subjected to indignity by the public authorities".

The Commission had also issued the advisory on protection of human rights of the person engaged in hazardous cleaning of septic tank on September 24, 2021, which was circulated to chief secretaries or administrators of all states and UTs, and the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs and to the secretary, National Commission for Safai Karmacharis for taking remedial actions.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)