Though the contractor -- who hired the three labourers to clean the sewer -- has been arrested and three executive engineers of Vadodara Municipal Corporation have been issued show-cause notices, relief seems a distant dream for the families of the deceased.

Except for Chandrakant Solanki -- a VMC employee and one of whose family members can hope for employment in the civic body -- families of Sanjay Solanki and Suresh Solanki lost their bread-winners in the mishap.

While Sanjay's family, comprising six members and residing at Tulsiwadi, came to know of his death only when one of their relatives read about it in the newspapers, Suresh's mother and wife have no source of income at the moment. Chandrakant on the other hand had to supplment his meagre income from the civic job by working for private contractors to support the nine members in his family.

According to secretary of Vyavsaik Swasthya Suraksha Mandal, Jagdish Patel, the primary responsibility of the incident rested with the municipal body. While labour unions were planning to file a public interest petition in the Gujarat High Court in this regard, they would also initiate efforts to organise the safai workers, he said.