Overview
- Each deceased worker’s family must receive ₹30 lakh within three months with the earlier ₹10 lakh deducted, and the three injured workers are to be paid ₹5 lakh each within two months.
- The court directed an independent investigation led by the Deputy Commissioner to file a report within four weeks after criticising the existing police affidavit as inadequate.
- The West Bengal government must constitute the state monitoring committee required under the 2013 manual scavenging law within 30 days, with compliance reports to the court.
- Judges found serious negligence by KMC and state authorities, noted lapses by the project’s Design and Supervision Consultant, and condemned the persistence of manual scavenging as a rights violation.
- The case stems from a February 2021 KEIIP sewer-desilting operation in Khudghat where four workers died after entering a manhole without safety measures, following which an FIR was lodged and contractor partners were blacklisted for five years.