After days of protest, families of three labourers, who died of suffocation, receive their bodies

After five days of protest, the families of three labourers, who suffocated to death inside a septic tank in a house under construction at Sendurai in Ariyalur district on October 2, received their bodies on Tuesday.

The deceased, who were identified as K. Bhaskar, 42, of Srinivasapuram in Tiruvarur district; K. Dhinakaran, 60, of Alivalam village in Tiruvarur district, and K. Ramachandran, 45, of Nakkambadi village in Ariyalur district, died one after the other after entering an eight-foot septic tank apparently due to suffocation.

Police arrested M. Subramanian, owner of the house. However, the family members of the deceased refused to accept their bodies after postmortem and demanded ₹30 lakh each. The CPI (M), Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) and Annihilation of Hazardous Sewerage Killings extended support to them.

After negotiations by police and revenue officials, they withdrew their protest and received the bodies of the victims from Government Medical College Hospital in Ariyalur. They were given solatium of ₹3 lakh each under the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

The officials promised a compensation of ₹8 lakh under the Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Welfare Board as early as possible. The bodies were subsequently buried at their villages.

Citing a Supreme Court judgment, Chellakannu, secretary, TNUEF, said if any labourer died while carrying out any sort of work inside a septic tank, the victim’s family should be paid compensation to the tune of ₹30 lakh. His forum would take the matter to a competent court, seeking compensation.