Forty-year old Rishi Pal became the latest casualty of the pervasive apathy when he died on Sunday inside a gutter of the LNJP Hospital that he was tasked to clean. He had descended inside the sewer without even a ladder, let alone any safety gear. His colleagues at the hospital testified to IANS that there was nothing anomalous with the way Rishi Pal went about his business on Sunday and that none of them were ever provided any safety gear while cleaning the sewers of the establishment. About 70 such sanitation workers are hired on contract by the Public Works Department, an agency under Delhi government, for three hospitals in the vicinity, including LNJP. The two others are Guru k Eye Hospital and Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital. Another sanitation worker said that he was hired by a private contractor along with the rest to work for the government agency. Apart from being made to work in perilous conditions, these workers do not have any sort of identification card or any proof that they are employed by the contractor for the PWD, which makes their status peculiarly vulnerable for exploitation. Siraj agreed that sanitation workers go into the sewers after a couple of drinks.
