4 workers sent to retrieve gold from septic tank without safety equipment die in Jaipur
Police said that the workers were initially reluctant to undertake the work, but agreed to do it after they were offered extra money.
Four workers died of suffocation after they were sent into a Jaipur jewellery shop’s septic tank without safety equipment on Monday to remove sludge for the recovery of gold and silver particles lost during washing, police said. The workers were initially reluctant to undertake the work, but agreed to do it after they were offered extra money, they added.
Gold and silver particles are often lost during washing to remove impurities, separating precious materials from unwanted substances, and preparing them for further processing. They are recovered through methods like sedimentation, filtration, and chemical treatment.
Police said the jewellery shop has a process of directing and recovering gold and silver particles from the septic tank sludge after washing the precious materials with a chemical.
The jewellery shop owners would rope in sanitation workers to recover the sludge from the tank, which was later processed to recover the gold and silver particles.
Anil Jaiman, a local police officer, said Vikas Mehta, the CEO of the company that owns the shop, and director Arun Kothari convinced the workers to go into the tank by offering them extra money. He added that the workers initially refused to do the work because of the hot weather.
Jaiman said eight workers, employed through a contracting agency, went inside the tank and fainted. He added that four of them, Rohit Pal, Sanjeev Pal, Himangshu Singh, and Arpit Yadav from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur and Ambedkar Nagar, died. “Two workers are undergoing treatment at a hospital. The remaining two were discharged,” Jaiman said. “They were not provided with any safety equipment,” said Jaiman.
Jaiman said forensic experts examined the spot. “We are probing why the workers were forced to clean an underground septic tank without any safety measures during a heatwave. We are also investigating the legality of the storage of gold particles in the tank. Action will be taken against the jewellery factory owners and the contractors...”
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot cited a series of deaths of sanitation workers while cleaning the septic tanks and questioned the government’s inaction. “At least 10 sanitation workers have died while cleaning the septic tanks in Bikaner, Deeg, and Jaipur. It seems that the state government is not serious about the safety of these workers. Despite the government’s announcement of buying more cleaning machines, the plan remains on paper. When will the government act?” he asked on X.
