Thiruvananthapuram : The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) on Wednesday issued a notice to Railways in the death of sanitation worker. Christopher Joy, who died gruesomely after being swept away in the waste-filled canal while on work contracted by the Railways.
The Railways’ Divisional Manager is required to submit explanation within seven days. The Commission’s acting chairperson and judicial member K Baijunath said it was important to hear the Railways’ side before arriving at a final decision.
The Commission sought report from the District Collector and Municipal Secretary on the incident earlier. It had then however missed asking Railways for an explanation.
The tragic death: On Saturday, Railways contracted sanitation workers to cleanup Amayizhanchan canal portion close to Thampanoor railway station where waste dumpings stagnated water. 42-year-old Christopher Joy was one among the workers. As it started to rain the water flow increased and he ,was tragically swept away unable to catch hold of the rope his co-workers threw out for rescue
A 46-hour search operation by Fire Force, police and NDRF ensued with robotic tools too deployed to scour the murky waters, at the end of which Joy’s body was recovered Monday morning, 15th July, in the canal portion in Thakarapparambu - a km away from where he originally went missing.
The site of the tragedy is stretch of the canal that falls exclusively under Railway jurisdiction meaning State government cannot undertake clean-up or any other routine activity there.
