In its series, Patriot visits families bereaved by the barbaric practice of manual scavenging. Here is what some of them had to say. 

Life was going quite smoothly for 20-year-old Vishal when he got admission in a BA programme in Delhi University—until his older brother Angad (24) developed a spinal tumour.

Since the boys’ father, Birbal (58) was the sole bread-earner in the family, Vishal was asked to look for a job. That’s how he began working at a bakery in West Delhi’s Laxmi Park area.

While his brother was on bed rest after an operation, Vishal worked in the bakery. However, the ₹ 7,000 per month salary that he was on, was not enough; hence he took up a job s a pump operator at DLF Capital Greens in Gurgaon.

Vishal was happy with his new job—it was earning him ₹ 12,000 every month, and he could also take weekends off—a time that he could savour playing cricket.

On September 9, 2018, when Vishal got a call from his supervisor asking him to come to work, he had to give cricket a miss. However, he didn’t know that this would be the last time he would ever see his family.

The job for him was different that day; Vishal and five others were asked to enter a 15-feet deep tank of the Gurgaon posh society. At first, all six of them refused to do so, but since they were under strict orders from the maintenance company that employed them, they reluctantly complied.

20-year-old Vishal choked to death in a septic tank last year

According to Angad (who is seen alongside his mother in the first image), all of them were without any protective gear and had to share one ladder between all of them. Carrying rods and floor-wipers, two of them from the group (Vishal and Pradeep) entered the tank. Shortly thereafter, the ladder was pulled out for the other duo.

“Vishal felt nauseous and thirsty so he asked Pradeep to bring him some water. Since the basement premises had no drinking water supply Pradeep returned—only to see a shocking sight…”

Vishal could be seen choking at the bottom of the tank. He (Pradeep) ran off to make a call from the building’s landline to the technical staff, alerting them about what had just happened. Although they came in no time and pulled out Vishal, the ambulance which was called to take him to the hospital was not equipped with an oxygen cylinder.

“He walked up on his own to the van. I wouldn’t call it an ambulance as it had no oxygen system,” says Angad.

He was taken to Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital in Moti Nagar, but “didn’t get proper treatment there,” pointed out Angad.

Pradeep was with Vishal until this point, but since even his breathing had been affected, he was advised to clean up and then inform Vishal’s family. He returned to the site of the incident and then informed Angad.

Vishal was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in the same ambulance to save time, but two hours had already elapsed and by the time he reached the second hospital, he was unable to speak.

“He was receiving oxygen through some pipes there but the doctor told us that they could’ve done something if he was brought in a little earlier,” says Angad.

Angad says that all the parties, in this case, had their phone switched off when he tried calling them on the day to ask them about his brother. Vishal was pronounced dead at 6:20 PM.

Ever since Vishal’s death, the family’s single room with an attached kitchen has been in shambles. A thick water pipe can be seen in the middle of the ceiling. “The roof is very weak; once we saw a hole in it and had to stick this pipe there so that we have some protection,” says Angad.

Today, Angad is the only son left in the family. He has completed his B.Sc. from Delhi University, but ever since Vishal’s death three months back, he has not been able to focus much on his job hunt—something that has been working on since last year.

Today, Angad spends most of his day preparing for his SSC exams and taking care of his mother, Parvati (55). “She’s been in distress ever since he passed away. Almost every day she recalls the time he was alive and after that, she’ll remain sad for a long time…,” said Angad.

Parvati’s voice is clear but one can hear the cracks as and when she takes Vishal’s name in the course of the conversation. “The moment he (Vishal) realised that his father cannot be the only earner in the family, he decided to stand on his feet. He used to tell me to not to worry about his sister’s wedding,” recalls Parvati.

She says that her husband has worked hard as an electrician his entire life and has managed to give his children a good education. Vishal was on the right path but his fate was decided mercilessly by god.

An ardent cricket fan, Vishal used to wake up early every morning to go and play with his friends in a nearby ground. He also loved swimming. Angad scrolls through Vishal’s phone, now being used by him, and gets emotional as he shows countless pictures of his brother playing cricket, swimming and also from the site he used to work at.

“He had a pretty regular job. What happened was not expected at all. We never thought he’d be forced to enter the tank,” says an emotional Angad.

Their father, who has a diabetic condition, struggles with his work, earning about ₹ 400 on good days from odd jobs as an electrician. Yet, there remains no assurance of permanent work.

Although the family received the compensation of₹ 10 lakh as per the law, they’re still fighting a case in the Delhi High Court. Five people were arrested after this incident, with the burden of accusation on the supervisor of Unnati Engineering & Contractors.

Right after the incident, began the blame game. DLF (the developers) and JLL (the maintenance company) had pinned the blame on Unnati. Consequently, its director and supervisor were arrested.

However, Angad says that DLF is the main culprit. “It’s more than the money now—it’s about taking up responsibility and justice,” says Angad.

Apart from daily battling their grief after Vishal’s death, the family’s current struggle is financial. Angad is preparing for SSC and his sister Satya has a Master’s degree in Commerce but is still looking for a job.

“We were not offered any employment by the government or anyone,” says Angad. The fight is tough for him and his sister, whose marriage the family wanted to arrange last year. However, due to Vishal’s death, such plans have been on hold.

Once out his mother’s earshot, Angad says that he worries the most about her. “I don’t want her to go into depression or get too sad. She takes his name every day and starts talking about him. It affects her a lot,” says Angad.

You can read the other stories in the series here, here, here and here.

This piece was first published in Patriot.