Mumbai, Dec 12 From April to September this year, 122 conservancy workers (safai kamagar) died, as per the statistics provided by solid waste management department of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).

This information, obtained by activist Keval Semlani under Right To Information Act, was furnished to the Bombay High Court, which is hearing a suo motu PIL based on newspaper reports and a letter written by Semlani on high mortality rate among these workers.

Between April 2006 and March 2007, 247 conservance workers had died.

Semlani moved an application before a Division Bench of Justices J N Patel and Nishita Mhatre to convert the PIL into a criminal writ petition, saying the statistics showed MCGM was guilty of "criminal negligence."

It has been his case that deaths occur due to unsafe working conditions, and inadequate safety gear.