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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Have won in people’s court, says Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on by-poll results
Bengaluru (PTI): Buoyed by the assembly election by-polls, which saw the ruling Congress sweeping in all the three seats, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said he won in the ‘people’s court’.
He gave credit to the guarantee schemes for the party’s victory in the assembly bypolls in Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna.
“You know what Mahatma Gandhi said. He said people’s court is better than the courts. Now people’s court has given me its verdict,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.
This victory was significant for the Congress as the BJP and JD(S) formed an alliance, he explained.
“We won from Kalyana Karnataka (Sandur), Kittur Karnataka region (Shiggaon), and old Mysuru region (Channapatna). In all the places we won. So, this is very significant."
“After our government came to power about one and half years ago, the BJP made false allegations on me and my government. They also spread lies about our schemes,” Siddaramaiah said.
The CM is an accused in the MUDA site allotment scam where 14 sites in upmarket of Mysuru was allotted to his wife, Parvathi. After the controversy broke out, Parvathi returned the sites to MUDA.
He also came down heavily on the opposition BJP and JD(S) for their lies and ‘baseless allegations’.
The Chief Minister also took a swipe at JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda and his son Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy for "crying" in public during elections.
“Deve Gowda and his sons cry, but didn’t their heart melt when several women cried in the Prajwal Revanna case in Hassan?” he asked.
Former JD(S) MP and grandson of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Prajwal Revanna is in jail for allegedly sexually assaulting several women and filming them.
