Pankaj (26) left for duty from Dwarka on Sunday morning after he received a call from his employer. It was his weekly off, his family and flat mates revealed.
Pankaj hailed from Jaunpur, U.P. He was working with contractors’ firm, Unnati, for the last three-four years as an operator of the sewage treatment plant (STP).
His flatmate Gautam Singh, who was also his colleague, said Pankaj had decided to be at home on that day to get some household chores done and rest. “It was his off on Sunday, but as another worker took an emergency leave, he had to go to work,” he said.
‘Asked to stay back’
Umesh Tiwari (22), who was also killed in the incident, had completed his shift at 2 p.m., his family said but he was allegedly asked to stay back. “He was a housekeeping staff. His shift was from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. He was asked to do an overtime that day as there were less people. He stayed back and that was probably his biggest mistake,” said his cousin Santosh Mishra, with whom Umesh used to live.
Umesh hailed from Sultanpur in U.P. He had planned to go home to spend this Diwali with his wife and children, including an eight-month-old daughter. “He had left home and come to Delhi for better opportunities. He had come to the city after his marriage, right after completing his Class XII. He used to visit home twice a year,” his cousin said, who was Umesh’s only relative in Delhi. He said his family has been informed. “I asked them not to come to Delhi. I will take his body to his village,” he said at the mortuary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.
Incidentally, Pankaj was also a father of a two-month-old girl and a 3-year-old son. He as well had left home and come to the Capital in search of better opportunities.
Angad, the brother of victim Vishal (20), a resident of Nangloi, regretted not forcing him to quit the job. Vishal had joined over five months ago. The brother recalled a conversation from last week wherein he had asked his brother to leave the job and look for something better.
“A few men from our colony were in this profession and they had insisted him that he entered the same. I had told him not to do the job because I thought it was not a respectable one, but he wanted to earn extra money,” Angad said as their father Birbal (58), an electrician, stood next to him.
Recalling Sunday evening, he said that the first call he got was from Vishal’s friend around 4.30 p.m. The friend said that Vishal had met with an accident. Angad was later informed over the phone that his brother was dead.
The families of the other four victims have meanwhile, alleged that they were not informed by any company official about the incident and that nobody even visited them. The families unanimously said that they received the information around 10 p.m. through mutual friends.
Gautam, who was victim Mrityunjay alias Raja’s flatmate as well, said, “He left around 12 p.m. I asked him to stay back and we would cook chicken. He said he would come back at night and we would cook together. He never came back.”
Workers Vishal, Raja, Umesh, Pankaj and Sharfaraz were killed on Sunday evening allegedly after they got exposed to poisonous gas while they were cleaning a sewage tank.
Their families have alleged that it was not their job.