BHUBANESWAR: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on today, April 19, issued a show cause notice against Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena over the death of two workers in a sewage tank in Cuttack city.

The NHRC has issued the notice to the chief secretary while hearing a petition filed by human rights activist Akhand. As per the complaint, the multiple workers engaged in cleaning the sewage tanks in Cuttack died of asphyxiation in April 2021.

In its report to the National Human Rights Commission, the Cuttack and Bhubaneswar commissioner said,  P. Shankar and Bishnu Naik lost their lives while one D. Shiva was under treatment. On April 15, 2021, cleaning an underground sewer network in the CDA Sector-10 area did not follow the recommended precautions.

"it was found during the departmental investigation that Pradyut Kumar Sahu, junior engineer, PHD (public health department), and Deepak Kumar Naik, director, are accountable for this unfortunate incident", the commission said.

The investigation found that JE Pradyut Kumar Sahu and Deepak Kumar Naik, a contractor, are accountable for this unfortunate incident, which indicates that government employees' negligence caused it to happen. As a result, the state is held vicariously liable because the two people who died and one person who is receiving treatment had their human rights violated.

It has questioned the chief secretary to explain why it was not suggested that the Rs. 10 lakh in damages be given to the deceased's heirs as well as to clarify whether the injured party has received any compensation for the government workers' negligence and the type of injury they suffered.

The show cause notice was given four weeks for the chief secretary to respond.

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