Manhole deaths: AAP, BJP accused of gross neglect

New Delhi: Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) on Tuesday accused the AAP government and the BJP-ruled MCDs of gross neglect for the manhole deaths, as after the first manhole death was reported on March 4, nine more manhole deaths have happened since then.

The party said that neither the government in Delhi nor the Corporations have taken effective steps to prevent such deaths, which could have been easily avoided if proper precautionary measures had been taken.

DPCC spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee demanded that each family of those who died while doing manual cleaning of the sewers be given a compensation of Rs 1 crore each. Addressing a Press conference, Mukherjee said that when the UPA Government was in power at the Centre, the Parliament had passed an Act on September 19, 2013 completely banning manual scavenging.