Pune: Four die of suffocation inside septic tank
Pune, Mar 2: Four persons including three workers died inside a septic tank at Loni Kalbhor near here on Wednesday morning, police said. Three of them were workers repairing the drainage system of a residential building in Kadam Wak Wasti area.
"The building owner had given the contract to repair the drainage system to one of the victims. The latter brought in two more people for the work," said senior inspector Rajendra Mokashi of Loni Kalbhor police station.
They found that there was a problem with the septic tank on Wednesday. But as the trio climbed down into the tank around 11.30 am, they passed out, apparently due to suffocation. When alarm was raised, a tenant living in the building tried to rescue them, but he fell down in the tank and got suffocated.
"Other people and police personnel pulled out the tenant who was unconscious and rushed him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. The remaining three could not be rescued until fire brigade personnel arrived. By the time they were brought out, all three were dead," inspector Mokashi said. As per the fire brigade officials, certain precautions such as using oxygen cylinders and masks need to be taken while entering into a septic tank, he said.
"Fire brigade officials, before descending into the tank to retrieve the victims, wore oxygen masks," the inspector pointed out. A case under IPC section 304-A (causing death by negligence) was being registered against the building's owner and probe is on, he said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
