Cuttack: Fire services and Odraf personnel rescued a 55-year-old labourer, who had been stuck inside an underground storm water drainage channel under Ring Road here after being swept away by sewage while cleaning a pumping station's junction box, after a seven-hour operation on Thursday afternoon.

The 55-year-old worker, Pranakrushna Muduli, was pulled out of the less-than-three-foot-wide storm water drain around 3.32 this afternoon and rushed to SCB Medical College and Hospital in an ambulance. However, he was released after initial treatment.

Around 8am, the Cuttack Fire Station headquarters at Buxi Bazaar got a call from a resident of Chahata with an alert that a man had been stuck inside the tunnel running four feet below the road. The fire services team swung into action and reached the spot in 15 minutes. A team of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (Odraf) also joined the rescue operations shortly.

Local councillor Namita Barik also rushed to the spot around 8.15am. She confirmed that though Pranakrushna was a daily wage earner, he used to work with the Cuttack Municipal Corporation.

"People had seen him clearing a blockage inside the pumping station's open junction box that is connected to the tunnel. Later, they raised the alarm and informed the fire station when he could not be seen any more," Barik said.

"He was apparently swept away about 25 feet into the 30-feet tunnel when sewage suddenly gushed into the junction box through another shaft from the pumping station. The pumping process involves automatic release of the sewage into the tunnel through the junction box after a particular level is reached in the sewage pond," she said.

However, no one in the civic body could say why there was no mechanism to keep the sewage-release shaft closed during maintenance to avoid accidents. It is also not clear why there was no supervision for such risky processes and why the worker was not wearing any safety gear.

A resident of Chahata area, who witnessed the rescue operations, felt that the accident should be an eye-opener for the municipal corporation and that the civic body should consider adopting the safety measures while undertaking such cleaning operations.

"Since they do dirty jobs, no one is bothered about their safety. But, these people risk their lives to eke out a living. The civic body should learn a lesson from Thursday's incident and ensure that the workers are not allowed to do such risky jobs without putting on the safety gears," he said.

A top source in the civic body also admitted that they did not have any safety guidelines for undertaking such cleaning operations.

However, no one wanted to come on record on the issue.

Municipal commissioner Bikash Ranjan Mohapatra said the civic body used the tunnel to release sewage into the Mahanadi from drains in parts of ward No. 8.

"A permanent pump house is used for the purpose," Mohapatra said.

Cuttack's chief fire officer Sukanta Sethi said: "It was a long-drawn rescue operation that had lasted nearly seven hours. Around a hundred fire services and Odraf personnel were involved in pulling out the man from the tunnel."

Sethi conceded that the rescue operation took so long, because they had to change their rescue plans midway. "We had first planned to dig a parallel well into a nearby concrete road to rescue the man. But, it did not work out after hours of digging operations as we were not aware that there was concrete structures both above and under the tunnel."

"As the man could not be pulled out this way, we decided to open the tunnel on the river-side. Then a fireman risked his life by entering into the tunnel from the river-side, crawled for about 5 feet and came out after pushing Muduli to safety," he said.

"The fireman, Biraj Bidhar, developed complications because of lack of oxygen inside the tunnel and had to be hospitalised immediately. He is in the ICU, but his condition is stable," said Sethi.

During the rescue operations, the fire services team and Odraf tried to ensure supply of oxygen inside the tunnel through cylinders and battery-operated fans.