Death of Shri Ram Saran Rai
(As noted on 30th July): You can find an analysis done by Citizens' Forum on the reports of committees constituted by the institute to enquire into accidents. (The relevant report here is this one.)
16-July-2013 Citizen's Forum Letter to Director regarding treatment of Samtuliya Ji, Shri Ram Sharan's Widow
Subject: Urgent –Support for Late Shri Ram Sharan’s widow.
(Continuation of our previous letter, highlighting issues like recovery of part payment which was earlier claimed to be "humanitarian").07-July 2013 2013-07-07 : Update on Compensation for Ram Sharan’s Family
Briefly: Samtuliya has received part payments, but still not all! And she will need (at least!) one more trip.25-June-2013 Citizen's Forum Letter to Director regarding treatment of Samtuliya Ji, Shri Ram Sharan's Widow
Subject: Urgent –Support for Late Shri Ram Sharan’s widow.
Attachements: Hamara Manch's Recent Update, Our previous letter.20-June-2013 Hamara Manch Update on Compensation for Ram Sharan’s Family
Briefly : Half a year after the death, the compensation has still not reached the family which is being made to go round the bureaucratic circles!29-May-2013 Citizen's Forum Letter to Director regarding compensation to Shri Ram Sharan's widow
Subject: Compensation for death of a worker23-Dec-2012 Citizen's Forum Letter to Director IITK
Subject: Plight of Ram Sharan's widow
(Regarding the shabby treatment faced by Shri Ram Sharan's widow)22-Dec-2012 Hamara Manch Update
Briefly : the compensation has still not reached the family, even as they are made to run about for documents each time being told to get some more of them. This is the third time they will need to travel 1000 kms one way to get some more documents. This even as they cope with the loss of a close family member who died due to institute's negligence, working for the institute, in the institute.
Do read the short update here.19-Dec-2012 An email circulated by the DIrector, IITK
apprising everyone of the steps taken by the institute in wake of recent deaths.13-Dec-2012 An update from Hamara Manch
Briefly: the compensation has still not reached the family even as they now face a bureaucratic delay.
No one from the institute has met the family, even the contractor is communicating through intermediaries (petty contractor).
Do read the short update here.
27-Nov 2012 An update from Hamara Manch.
Today we went to meet them. The family has been asked to fetch some more papers from the village for the compensation things to move further, now Ram Saran's father is supposed to come with those papers in the next two days. Meanwhile the contractor gave 1000/ for eight people to fend for themselves for two days. It seems he will give some more money tomorrow. We realised that the family: wife and two children, one 2.5 years and another 4 years (this is Ramsaran's second marriage, first wife passed away without any children), have not had a bath since the death and they can't have as they do not have change clothes, also they had no woolens. HM volunteers bought a set or two of clothes for all of them today evening. But the point is that the institute/ contractor have left them in this alien place to fend for themselves...
A more detailed update here.26-Nov-2012 Citizen's Forum email to administration.
26-Nov-2012 An update from Hamara Manch regarding the recent public meeting in the campus.
The two reports that came with the update are available here: Public Meeting on worker safety Nov 24 2012.pdf, Hamara Manch Ramki workers.pdf
24-Nov-2012
A public meeting was held on Saturday, Nov. 24, in wake of the two worker deaths at construction sites within a month, which caused a sense of anguish and outrage within the campus community. Over 125 people attend the meeting. For details see the Hamara Manch update above.23-Nov-2012
An update from Hamara Manch is appended below. The pdf attachment that came with the report contains details and demands.
Dear Friends,
On Nov. 21, 2012, at around 9:10am, a worker, Shri Ram Saran Rai, fell from the 6th floor of the under-construction Extension to the New RA Hostel building (next to the swimming pool). According to workers at the site, he did not survive the fall; officially, he was declared ‘brought dead’ at the hospital where he was taken soon after the fall. This is the 9th incident of a worker’s death while working at IITK within the past five years and fourth in the last seventeen months; it comes just about a month after the tragic death of Shri Atar Singh, also caused by a fall from a building under construction on campus.
Hamara Manch has put together a report based on first-hand reports by fellow-workers from the same site as well as Hamara Manch volunteers who visited the site within an hour of the incident. A PDF of the report is attached.
Hamara Manch
Attachment: Report on death of Shri Ram Saran.pdf
21-Nov-2012 The official communique.