Dera Bassi sewer pit deaths: Inquiry report points to major lapses, recommends additional charges in FIR

The sources told The Indian Express that during the probe, it was found that there was no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that was being followed by the management of the Federal Agro Meat Plant, where the incident had taken place on April 21.

The sources further revealed that no safety measures were followed at the time of the incident when the workers were cleaning the underground sewage pit inside the factory and no safety belts were used.

The inquiry report also found that there was no vent line in the underground pit, which would have allowed toxic gas to escape.

“At the time of the work, no supervisor was present at the spot due to which no one was keeoing an eye on the workers,” the inquiry report found.

The inquiry report had also made recommendations to the state Industries Department that scavenging is a specific trade and SOPs should be made for the workers so that such incidents do not happen in the future.

The inquiry had also found that out of the four workers who died in the incident, three were registered with the Employee’s State Insurance Scheme (ESI), while one worker was registered on the day of his death, which was also a lapse on part of the management.

The report also recommended appropriate action by the labour department for the lapse.

Four workers — Janak Thaapa, Sridhar Pandey, both residents of Nepal; Kurwan, a resident of Bihar and Manak Singh, a resident of Behra village — had died while cleaning a pit inside the Federal Agro Meat Plant on April 21.

Dera Bassi police had subsequently booked Kamil Qureshi, the owner of Fedral Agro, PS Hamid, the general manager of the plant, and Shahid Hamid, under sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code ( IPC).