Bengaluru/ Mysore: A shocking incident of a civic worker being forced to manually clean a sewer line has come to light in Mysore, the home district of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The incident took place on Tuesday in Tavarakatte village near the Chamundeshwari temple in Mysore where a gram panchayat president allegedly told a civic worker to get into a manhole to unclog a blocked drain as "she wanted it done immediately".
The worker, Ganesh, initially refused, saying the block is so severe that they should wait for equipment to be brought in to clear up the sewer line. But, he alleged that the sarpanch Geetha insisted he dip into the manhole and physically clear it as it was right in front of her house.
District officials say they have filed a police complaint against Geetha and the PDO Anand, for criminal intimidation and for violations of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers Act -- which prohibits local authorities from employing humans to clear sewer lines and septic tanks. All of these offences could attract jail terms of two years.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer P Shivashankar said that the complaint was filed after ZP officials did a preliminary enquiry and spoke to the civic workers.
He said a probe is also underway to ascertain whether there are other officials involved in the incident.
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