Thane, 1 April

A day after a woman died as she got entangled in an excavator during garbage segregation in Thane city, irate citizens staged a protest outside the civic body with her body on Tuesday to press for their demands, including compensation to her family.

Due to the protest, a tense situation unfolded outside the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), prompting the police authorities to deploy their personnel at the site in large numbers.

A senior official of the TMC later assured the protesters that the garbage segregation centre, where the incident took place on Monday evening, would be shut down permanently and compensation would be paid to the family of the deceased.

As per the details of the incident, the woman identified as Rajshri Jadhav died after getting entangled in a part of an excavator at the CP Talao garbage segregation centre. The 48-year-old victim, a resident of Bhim Nagar in the city, was picking up scrap when the incident took place.

The protesters alleged that after the victim's death, the operator of the excavator allegedly tried to dispose of her body in a garbage dumper and it was recovered only when the dumper driver noticed it.

The citizens gathered outside the TMC headquarters around 11.30am to demand immediate closure of the garbage segregation centre, compensation for the family of the deceased, and a government job for her family member. The protest lasted around one-and-a-half hours.

Addressing the protesters, Deputy Municipal Commissioner Manish Joshi said it was an unfortunate incident.

He assured that in the next 15 days, the entire garbage from the station would be removed and the facility would be permanently shut down after that.

He also promised to provide compensation to her family and a job to one of her kin.

After Joshi's appeal, the protesters ultimately took Jadhav's body for cremation.