3 suffocate to death in septic tank

VADODARA: Three persons including a sanitation worker of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) died due to suffocation when they entered a manhole at a party plot to clean it.
Ramesh Solanki (42,) Rahul Solanki (26) and Pradeep Solanki (30) had gone to the Nakshatra Party Plot in Harni to clean its septic tank at around 11:30am. Ramesh was working as a sweeper with VMC.
“We get the manhole cleaned every year before the wedding season begins but every time the workers clean it from outside. This was the first time that they entered inside for cleaning,” said Rahul Pandya, who has a contract of ‘faraskhana’ at the party plot.
The fire brigade recovered the bodies of the three and sent them to SSG Hospital for post-mortem. Shailesh Bhatia, officer of of VMC’s ward 2, identified Ramesh.
Police sub-inspector, Harni police station J D Deora said, “We are waiting for the post-mortem report. After the exact reason of their death is known, we will register the complaint and take strict action if any negligence is found.”
VMC is looking into the possibility of giving compensation to Ramesh as he was a VMC employee. Officials said that they were not aware about his taking up work at the party plot.