Ludhiana, June 7 -- The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of the death of three workers and injuries to two others after they allegedly inhaled toxic fumes while manually cleaning a chemical disposal tank inside a hand tools factory on RK Road in Ludhiana district.

The commission has issued notices to the Punjab chief secretary KAP Sinha and Ludhiana police commissioner Swapan Sharma, directing them to submit a detailed report within two weeks. The report is expected to include the status of the police investigation, the condition of the injured workers and details of compensation, if any, announced by the government.

According to NHRC, the workers were hired by the factory management to clean a sewag...