NHRC takes note of 2 girls' deaths after school gate collapse in Odisha

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognizance of three separate incidents where a total of eight people, including six children, died due to alleged negligence in Odisha, Haryana, and Maharashtra, and has sought a detailed report in the Odisha case.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that two girl students died after an iron gate of a government primary school collapsed upon them in the Gajapati district of Odisha on April 15, an official statement released on Friday said. Reportedly, the incident occurred when the girls were playing near the school entrance.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the news report, if true, raise serious issues of human rights violations of the victims, it added. "Therefore, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha and the Superintendent of Police, Gajapati, calling for a detailed report on the matter within two weeks," it read out. According to the media report, carried on April 16, the students were trapped under the debris. The locals rushed the victims to a nearby hospital, where the doctors declared them dead.

Deaths due to negligence in Haryana, Maharashtra

The Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that two sanitation workers died and another was injured after inhaling poisonous gases while cleaning a sewer line at the Ambedkar Chowk of Firozpur Jhirka area in the Nuh district of Haryana on April 15, it added. Reportedly, the contractor engaged by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) of the state government had deployed three workers for cleaning the sewer line without any safety gear, it added.

It has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that on April 16, four children died due to drowning in a 15-feet-deep pit near a drain work site in the Islampura area of Nanded district in Maharashtra. Reportedly, the drain is being constructed by the local civic body and wastewater had accumulated in the nearby pit, the Commission added. (ANI)

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