SHILLONG, July 12: Citing New Delhi’s rulebook to bypass a local tragedy, the Meghalaya government has disqualified the families of the five Lapalang victims from state disaster compensation, labelling the fatal gas poisoning a mere “workplace accident.”
A senior government official confirmed on Sunday that the families are ineligible for ex-gratia assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). The official stated that the incident does not fall within the specific categories covered by the fund’s strict guidelines.
The five victims died Friday evening after inhaling carbon monoxide while cleaning an underground water reservoir at Dongmadan, Lapalang. The tragedy claimed three workers trapped inside the tank and two brothers from Smit and Nongrah who died attempting a rescue.
According to the official, the SDRF is governed by mandates issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).These rules restrict the use of funds to officially notified natural calamities such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and landslides.
Deaths resulting from “occupational accidents”—including the inhalation of toxic fumes during the cleaning or excavation of reservoirs—are excluded from SDRF assistance.
While the state has effectively washed its hands of the SDRF payout, another official suggested that the bereaved families “may” have other avenues for seeking compensation. He noted that if the accident occurred at a private construction site, the employer could be held liable under the Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923, provided negligence or unsafe working conditions are established.
The government further signalled a “soft no” regarding direct state aid, noting it may only “examine the possibility” of extending financial assistance through the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Such a move would be treated as an “exceptional humanitarian case” rather than an admission of state responsibility.
For the families in Smit and Nongrah, this bureaucratic distinction means that while their loss is absolute, the state’s obligation remains a matter of technicality and “category mismatches.”
