Deaths in manholes: Will they ever end?
The ones who assured to make ‘Bharat’ a global leader at almost at the end of their term. In the next few months, well face Lok Sabha elections. By now it's pretty evident as to what people who accused others of having ruined the country for the last seventy years, have been able to achieve. The beneficiaries of their 'acche din’ are now known to everyone. The poor never stood a chance for good life. 'Digital India' still has people getting into manholes and dying a gory inhuman death. One more worker died in a manhole in the national capital Delhi few days ago. Every time a death like this occurs the government Assurance people that such incidents will never repeat in the future.
We cannot expect our prime minister to respond to such deaths. He had once written a glorious tribute to such jobs. About 123 people have died since January 2017 till date across the country. Government never thinks this is undignifying to the country's image. The ministers concerned shed a few crocodile tears before the media cameras, announce some relief, utter some assurances and forget all about that till another such death happens. But none of the assurances have materialised so far. Over 60 people have died in manholes in Karnataka from 2008. Among this, 28 deaths occurred in the capital city of Bengaluru. Government behaves irresponsibly about the deaths that should put is civil society to utter shame.
Announcing relief does not absolve the government of its moral responsibility. Facilitating the process of men getting into manhole itself is a crime. High courts and Supreme court have often chided the governments for this inhuman act still being practised. But this practice continues unabated. There are directions that specifically state manholes have to be cleaned using machines. The cleaning staff have to be given gumboots, masks and gloves. only under exceptionally inevitable circumstances should the cleaners be allowed to clean the manholes with all precautionary measures put in place.
But hardly any of these instructions are followed ever. Manholes have high quantity of Methane and carbon monoxide which are Lethal gases. A hole has to be left with its lid open for about an hour before someone gets into it. With all the precautionary measures in place, the person who gets into it has to smear his body with generous amounts of coconut oil. But none of these are ever followed. Just like our soldiers who guard our borders, our paurakarmikas go down the drain for us sometimes never to come back. A life is lost to keep the drains working, and the cities clean and beautiful. They should also be considered as Martyrs on par with the soldiers and the relief should match accordingly. The ones who force them to go down the drain should be punished severely.
The government should not play around with the lives of underprivileged people. There are only few instances where the people responsible for his death booked but mostly they go unpunished or would be let off later. The contractors and officers lead a life that are affected by these deaths. We must remember please precious lives lost our dent on India's image. They have never affected those who are polarising the country in the name of religion. The country has to bring complete ban on men being forced to go down the drain. if this cannot be done the elected representatives themselves should volunteer to get into the manholes to keep them clean. In a book written in 2008, Prime Minister Modi had said paurakarmikas must be getting a spiritual feeling to be doing their jobs. In a graded society, paurakarmikas who belong to the lowest strata are getting to experience spiritual awakening. That's not fair. All people across the social strata, including the upper caste ones should experience this spiritual feeling of getting into a manhole. Please suit yourselves on this.
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Party remains robust, will bounce back, says DMK
Chennai (PTI): Dismissing the shock defeat in the Assembly election as nothing unusual in a democracy, the DMK on Wednesday said it has seen several ups and downs in its long history and asserted that the party workers and office-bearers continue to be energetic and are committed to continuing the good work for people's welfare.
Tracing the party's chequered history, DMK Organisation Secretary RS Bharathi said in 1991 Assembly polls, only the party's late patriarch M Karunanidhi and Parithi Ilamvazhuthi won from Harbour and Egmore segments respectively out of the 234 constituencies in the state.
"So, who can forget 1991? That year we lost. But we bounced back and formed the government in 1996. In our long history of over 7 decades we have seen lots of ups and downs and party workers show determination and continue the good work even when out of power," the DMK leader told PTI.
He said the difference in vote share between his party (24.19 per cent) and the "winning party" (34.92 per cent) is not "very wide."
Bharathi expressed confidence about the party bouncing back and once again emerging victorious.
He and others cited the message of DMK President M K Stalin, thanking the people and asserting that ideology was important rather than victories and defeats alone.
On May 4, the DMK chief asserted that he had seen in his public life, lot of victories and defeats as well. Hence, it is the goal and ideology that was paramount and not merely electoral victories and defeats.
The DMK, which worked efficiently as the ruling party, would from now on work effectively as the main opposition party.
He had further said: "I was truthful to all sections of people; I acted as per conscience, worked beyond my capacity."
Stalin said: "I bow to people's verdict, DMK worked well as ruling party, from now on will be good opposition party. DMK's political journey will continue without any slackness."
When votes were counted on May 4, actor-politician Vijay's TVK created a record of sorts in the electoral history of Tamil Nadu and emerged as the single largest party by delivering a shock defeat to incumbent DMK and its president, Chief Minister Stalin in his Kolathur constituency, while the AIADMK was pushed to a distant third spot.
Vijay and TVK have many firsts to their credit and the party founder will be the first person from a minority religion -Christianity- to helm the state. The assembly election was held on April 23 in Tamil Nadu.
கழகத் தலைவர் மு.க.ஸ்டாலின் அவர்களின் அறிக்கை
— DMK (@arivalayam) May 5, 2026
நடந்து முடிந்த தமிழ்நாடு சட்டமன்றப் பொதுத் தேர்தலில் திராவிட முன்னேற்றக் கழகத்தின் தலைமையிலான மதச்சார்பற்ற முற்போக்குக் கூட்டணிக் கட்சியின் வேட்பாளர்களுக்கு வாக்களித்த தமிழ்நாட்டு மக்கள் அனைவருக்கும் எனது மனமார்ந்த நன்றியை உண்மை… pic.twitter.com/LQtrACGK0z
