Delhi PWD sacks engineer over pictures of workers cleaning drains gearless, deletes X post
New Delhi, Jun 3 (PTI): A Delhi Public Works Department official was suspended Tuesday after the civic body's post on X showing workers desilting drains without safety gear was met with backlash online.
However, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta maintained her government was following all the court-mandated guidelines for desilting.
Earlier in the day, the PWD posted four pictures on X depicting half-naked workers engaged in the cleaning of drains.
The post was later deleted after several X users criticised the government over the apparent apathy towards the workers' safety.
At a press conference, when she was asked about the post, Gupta said not every drain can be cleaned with machines.
"Every drain has its own situation. At every drain, machines might not be able to work. It might be possible that there was a drain where the machines were not able to work. The government's target is to completely desilt all the drains. The work is being carried out keeping court guidelines in mind," she said.
A senior official from PWD said a junior engineer has been suspended since the workers were not operating in safety gear.
"The work that was being carried out was regarding desilting of a stormwater drain and not a sewer line, hence, it can not be called manual scavenging work. But still, as the workers were seen not operating in complete safety gear, the junior engineer concerned for the work has been suspended for lack of supervision, and other officials have been warned," the official said.
More than 400 people died while cleaning septic tanks and sewers in India between 2018 and 2023, according to data shared with the Parliament in 2023.
According to the data, 76 deaths occurred in 2018, 133 in 2019, 35 in 2020, 66 in 2021, 84 in 2022 and 49 in 2023.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
