A forty-five-year-old contract employee at Vijayawada Municipal Corporation in Andhra Pradesh died reportedly due to asphyxiation when he entered a manhole chamber while at work on Saturday, July 15. According to the police, the deceased, identified as Meda Manikyalarao, belongs to the Yerukala caste of Scheduled Tribes and is survived by his wife and two children. The police stated that Manikyala Rao fell unconscious when he entered a chamber. He was pulled out by his co-workers and rushed to the nearest hospital, but the doctors declared that he was brought dead. 

According to Guna Ram, Circle Inspector (CI), Machavaram Police Station, four contract workers in the sewage cleaning department went to clear a manhole on Jakkariya Veedhi road in the city on Wednesday with machinery and tools. “Usually, when there is a block before sending the mechanised pipe into the manhole, usually 18 feet deep, the workers send a long metal pipe to analyse the block, but unfortunately the metal rod got struck and Manikyalarao entered the manhole to pull it out. Suddenly the block was cleared releasing poisonous gases leading to Manikyalarao’s death,” CI Guna Ram told TNM. He added it was unclear whether the victim voluntarily entered the manhole or if any officer has asked him to do so. Manikyalarao was not wearing any protective gear when he entered the sewage chamber.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) senior leader Babu Rao told TNM, “The machinery should be properly fixed at the spot wherever the block is identified, but often workers get into manholes to do it. We are now asking for Rs 50 lakh to be paid to the family.”

Following the death of Manikyalarao, worker unions in the city held a protest at Vijayawada Government Hospital on Sunday, July 16 with family members and municipal workers demanding justice for the family.

Meanwhile, activists held the government responsible for the death of the worker. “We are being told by the municipal corporations that the machines are being used to do the work, but someone had to enter the manhole to put the machines in the place. It is a violation of the Manual Scavenging Act, which says that no person can enter a manhole in any circumstance and the government is accountable for the death. Moreover, except for a few places in big cities, nowhere in the country is protective gear provided to the workers,” K Saraswathi, Telangana Convener of Safai Karmachari Andolan (SFA), an organisation working to eradicate manual scavenging and create awareness on the practice.  

“Vijayawada is not a small corporation. The Commissioner has to properly investigate the death and action should be taken. This should be the last such death in the city,” an SFA activist in Vijayawada said.