Varanasi: 2 labourers die inside manhole of sewage pumping station

VARANASI: Two labourers were killed due to suffocation inside the manhole of newly constructed sewage pumping station at Chowkaghat on Saturday afternoon.


This sewage pumping stations and Dinapur Sewage Treatment Plant(STP) has to be formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 12. An NDRF team rescued bodies of labourers. Police took an Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam(UPJN) official under custody for sending labourers inside manhole without safety equipment.

In view of the PM’s proposed visit and inauguration of the 140 MLD STP at Dinapur the officials of Ganga Pollution Control Unit of UPJN are finalizing the preparations to make the STP operational. As a part of same exercise the sewage pumping station constructed at Chowkaghat to forward sis-Varuna areas sewage to the Dinapur STP was also being made operational.

To clean up the pipelines linked with this sewage pumping station UPJN officials arranged some labourers including Kivas Paswan and his nephew Dinesh Paswan of Siwan district in Bihar. Companions of these two labourers alleged that the officials sent the duo inside the manhole without providing any safety gears. Due to the spread of poisonous gas inside the manhole the duo fell unconscious and drowned in sewage water. Other labourers went on rampage after the incident.

Police reached the incident site and later NDRF team was called to rescue the victims. The NDRF personnel faced difficulties in fishing out their bodies. Chetganj police took a UPJN project manager under custody while bodies were sent for postmortem.