Kanpur: A 22-year-old tannery worker died after being exposed to poisonous gas while opening a leather drum at a tannery in Saraiya under the Jajmau police station area on Saturday morning. His family later reached Kanshiram Hospital and created a ruckus, alleging negligence by the tannery owner and management in ensuring worker safety. They demanded compensation of about Rs 20 lakh and action against those responsible.The deceased was identified as Manoj Kumar, who lived in Deviganj in Chakeri with his wife Kavya, 20, and their six-month-old daughter Divya. The family originally belonged to Farrukhabad and had been living in Deviganj for about 20 years.According to his wife, Manoj had started working at Ishan Tannery two months ago. He operated a leather drum and worked with his nephew Rohit. She said he left home around 8pm on Friday for work. Around 4 am on Saturday, while opening the leather drum, he was suddenly exposed to poisonous gas and his condition deteriorated.His co-workers took him to Kanshiram Hospital. Family members and relatives reached the hospital after being informed. About two hours later, at 6 am, doctors declared him dead.Jajmau police station in-charge Sanjay Pandey said, “The cause of the accident is being investigated. Action will be taken on the basis of the postmortem report.”
