Acting on a complaint of the Punjab unit of the BJP, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Tuesday ordered the state government to immediately release compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of two deceased safai karmacharis, Aman Kumar and Prem Kumar Kaka, who were asphyxiated while cleaning a manhole in Patti, Tarn Taran, recently. State vice president of the party, Harjit Singh Grewal, state secretary Vineet Joshi and state president, SC Morcha, Manjit Bali Tuesday met Raj Kumar, regional director of National Commission for Scheduled Castes, in Chandigarh asking the commission to immediately ask the municipal council, Patti, or the Punjab government to release a compensation of rupees 10 lakh each for the family of deceased in consonance with a 2014 Supreme Court order. After being apprised of the facts of the case and taking cognizance of the news reports of the death of the two workers, the commission directed that the Punjab government should release the compensation as per the directives listed in the Supreme Court order. The BJP leaders also urged the commission to take action against executive officer (EO) of the municipal committee, Tarn Taran, or the official concerned who failed to provide protective gear to the two safai karmacharis. As per the Prohibition of Manual Scavenging Act, it is mandatory for employer to provide protective gear to sanitation workers at the time of getting sewer or a septic tank cleaned. The leaders have also asked commission to direct police to register a case under the relevant sections of SC & ST Act. Vineet Joshi said the state president of the party and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Vijay Sampla, had also directed that a memorandum be submitted to all district commissioners across the state and municipal authorities demanding to know what kind of safety measures were being taken to ensure the protection of safai karmacharis. “Through the memorandum, the SC morcha of the party will also demand that the district authorities take adequate steps to ensure that there is no repeat of such incidents,” said Joshi.
