UP native Ratanlal Jaiswar’s son Chandan died in a septic tank in 2024. He has been living in Taloja, painting vehicles for a living and waiting for the compensation
His widow Archana (22), his mother and his sister Muskan now do domestic work to pay the rent for their room in Asudgaon, Panvel. Tak, who used to work as a driver-cleaner on the suction truck as well as do septic tank cleaning work, was paid Rs 17,000 a month, mostly in cash. Tak’s family is struggling too. They say the police initially refused to lodge an FIR, while the suction-truck owner offered to take care of the deceased’s child’s education. However, the family maintained that it wasn’t enough as Tak was the sole breadwinner.
Chauhan has been doing this for 15-20 years, taking work from contractors, buildings and housing societies. A contractor pays him Rs 700-1,000 a day; others Rs 1,500-2,000. For Ratanlal Jaiswar (54), that wait began in Dec 2024, when his son Chandan (22) died cleaning a septic tank at a chawl in Uran. Chandan, along with Vikas Kisan Tak (33) who too died, had entered the tank to rescue another worker who had collapsed inside. In Powai, Akshay Mandal (23) andFulchand Kumar Saw (29) died in Nov 2025 while cleaning a sewage plant. Mandal’s family got Rs 10 lakh from the contractor on humanitarian grounds but is awaiting the statutory compensation. Meanwhile, some families are awaiting enhanced compensation after Supreme Court, in 2023, raised it to Rs 30 lakh and directed govts to provide rehabilitation, including employment for next of kin and education for children.
After all, I have to put food on the table for my family,” he said. Work dries up during monsoon, and when I don’t find work, I sit here and sleep,” he said. He used to send money so we could buy food and celebrate festivals,” his father Jaynarayan, who travels to Mumbai from Jharkhand each year for work, says.
“There are lakhs like me who do this. He wants to leave Taloja and return to UP, where his family is, and use the money to get his four children married. “I don’t know how long I have to wait. “He was running the house.
