Narayana
MANDYA: A sweeper with the Maddur town municipality hanged himself on Tuesday, three months after he was allegedly forced to get into a manhole and clean it with his hands. In a note he left behind, Narayana, 37, blamed top officials for harassing him to declare that he had voluntarily gone without safety gear.
Sources said on November 2, Narayana was forced to clean a manhole and he was being hounded since as the incident made headlines.
Mandya sweeper’s pay was withheld, say colleagues
Sources said municipal officials forced Narayana to clean a manhole without gloves, mask or any cleaning equipment. The incident made media headlines and an inquiry was ordered against the officials and CMC president Sureshkumar. As word of the manual scavenging got around, the officials came under flak and reportedly harassed Narayana to own up the lapse, and say that he voluntarily got into the manhole without any protection.