Ahmedabad: A second sanitation worker has died after three contract cleaners were allegedly made to enter a drain without adequate safety measures at UN Mehta Hospital in Asarwa earlier this week.Shahibaug police said Sahil Nadiya, who had been undergoing treatment after the incident, died on Friday night. His co-worker, Roki Mekwan, had died earlier during treatment after losing consciousness inside the drain.The case, already registered against two chief supervisors of Smart Maintenance Company, has now been forwarded to senior officers handling SC/ST-related offences for further investigation, police said.The FIR was filed by Pravin Vaghela, 32, a contract cleaner engaged through Smart Maintenance Company. Vaghela has stated in his complaint that he has been working at the hospital for about a year and was posted on cleaning duty in the basement parking area.According to the complaint, the incident took place on Monday between 7pm and 7.30pm near a biomedical area in Basement 1 of the hospital, where a drain was to be cleaned. Vaghela alleged that chief supervisors Raj Bharatkumar Barot and Pinakin Parmar instructed him and other workers to enter the drain.The complaint states that Nadiya first tried to enter the drain but came out after experiencing severe breathlessness. When he tried again, he once more struggled to breathe and stepped out.Mekwan then entered the drain and lost consciousness. Nadiya allegedly jumped in to rescue him but also collapsed. Vaghela said he entered the drain in an attempt to save both men, but he too was overcome and had to be pulled out by others present at the spot.Vaghela was hospitalised and later learnt that fire brigade personnel had rescued Mekwan and Nadiya from the drain. Mekwan died during treatment, while Nadiya remained unconscious until his death on Friday night.Police have booked the two supervisors under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act. The complaint alleges that the workers were assigned dangerous work without proper safety measures despite the risk to their lives.
