Social Media Pools in Over Rs 10 Lakh for Family of Delhi Worker Who Died Cleaning Sewer

New Delhi: A host of people, from film stars to commoners, collected over Rs 10 lakh rupees within a few hours on Monday to help the family of a Delhi-based sanitation worker who died while cleaning a sewer.

Rahul Verma, founder, Uday Foundation, had shared a moving photo of one of Anil's children standing by their dead father's body. Soon after the news and photographs related to Anil’s death spread on social media, scores of people came to help and began donating money to the family.

Ketto, a crowdfunding platform, set a target of Rs 24 lakh to be collected over 16 days, but had already collected Rs 10.4 lakh in about four hours with more than 500 people donating sums ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 50,000, reported Hindustan Times.

Anil, 27, was hired by a person named Satbir to clean the sewer line as water was stagnant in his building, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said, adding the incident was reported to the police on September 14.

While climbing down the sewer, Anil slipped and the rope around his waist broke, following which he fell in the 20-feet deep sewer, the senior officer said.

During investigation, it was learnt that Anil was not given any protective gear and even the rope was not strong enough to bear the tension, he added

Anil's death comes just a week after five persons died due to asphyxiation when they entered a sewage treatment plant in Moti Nagar area.

Anil’s four-month-old son had died of pneumonia just six days before his own death. He is survived by his wife and three children.