2 workers dead while laying sewer line in Noida
Noida, May 3: Two contractual workers died early on Friday after they apparently got stuck underground while laying a sewer line here, officials said.
The workers, both in their twenties, were laying the pipes late on Thursday night at Salarpur area, about 12 feet down from the ground level, when water from a nearby drain started entering their pit through a crack, an official said.
The two workers, engaged by the Noida Authority via a contractor, had got stuck and could not come up while the polluted water kept filling the pit, the official said.
Police and the fire department were alerted, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was also called in, the officials said.
The bodies of the deceased, Amit and Salman, were retrieved after a nearly four-hour rescue operation by the deep-diving team of the NDRF, an official said.
"We reached the spot at 3.15 am and began the operation at 3.20 am. The first body was recovered at 6.25 am and the second at 7.20 am," Jeetender Yadav, who led the nine-member NDRF team, told PTI.
An FIR has been registered at the Sector 39 police station and the contractor, who was handling the project, has been booked for causing death due to negligence, a police officer said.
No one has been arrested yet and a probe is underway, the officer said.
A contractual junior engineer has been dismissed over the incident, said Rajesh Kumar Singh, the Noida Authority's officer on special duty.
The authority has also blacklisted the contractor to prevent him from undertaking any future projects with it, Singh added.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
