Rahul (32), a contractual sanitation worker from the Valmiki community, died on March 30 while manually desilting an 8–to 10-feet-deep drain in Tahirpur, Dilshad Garden, allegedly without any safety gear, supervision, or mechanised support.
The incident, which occurred under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department, has raised serious questions about illegal manual scavenging practices, caste-based labour exploitation, and institutional accountability.
According to findings by a fact-finding team from Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM), Rahul had gone to collect two months of unpaid wages on the morning of the incident but was allegedly coerced into cleaning the hazardous drain, with payment conditional on completing the task.
Witnesses and family members claim that he was forced to enter the toxic environment without protective equipment, exposing him to lethal gases such as methane and hydrogen sulphide.
Rahul and a co-worker began the work from 8 am and by 2 pm, he was found unresponsive inside the drain.
Rescue operations reportedly took nearly two hours, and he was declared dead on arrival at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.
His family was informed only hours later, around 5 pm by an unknown person, raising concerns about official delay and insensitivity.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.