Shri Baijnath* sustains severe electric shock

September 2009.

*Name changed

(As compiled by concerned community members. A more detailed report can be find here.)

On 12th September, 2009, Shri Baijnath, a skilled mason working in the IME building construction site, met with a serious accident at work. He suffered a severe electric shock which made him unconscious for several hours but fortunately he survived. The following account is based on the narration by Shri Baijnath and his co-workers (on 23rd September, 2009) who were present during the incident.

Shri Baijnath, hails from Saharsa district in Bihar, and has been working with the contractor Rakesh Brothers for the last 16 years. He has been working on the IME site since 1st July, this year. Earlier he was in Bangalore with the same contractor. Though he was paid at the rate of Rs 220 per day in the wage office, he was actually paid at the rate of Rs 160/day at the site. Shri Baijnath lives in the jhuggi with his wife.

On 12th September, around 2.30 pm, his supervisor asked him to cut some protruding steel rods from a newly made column on the 4th floor with a welding m/c. Shri Baijnath who is a mason (he does plastering and chunai) was not comfortable with this job and was reluctant to do it. But the supervisor forced him to do it. As Shri Baijnath said, and several of the his co-workers confirmed, the electrical equipments including the mains box at the site is in very poor condition with no proper insulation and rusted at several places. Shri Baijnath suffered a near fatal electric shock as soon as he tried to operate the welding machine. He fell crashing but luckily he was able to hold on to something at the last minute so that he did not fall from the 4th floor. The unconscious body of Baijnath was brought down by his coworkers with the help of ropes. They then tried to resuscitate him by thumping his chest but were unable to do so. According to his coworkers, no one in charge of the site – from either the contractor’s side (the site in charge, the engineer ) or the IWD engineer did anything to help.

Some time later (may be around 4.30 -5 pm) apparently the SIS jeep arrived and took the still unconscious Shri Baijnath and three coworkers to the Health Centre. Since nobody spoke to the workers they are not sure as to whether Shri Baijnath was seen by the doctor or not. He was kept in the HC and was being administered glucose. At some point of time the site incharge Mr Katiyar came to the HC. Even after a couple of hours Shri Baijnath did not revive, and what really got his coworkers concerned was that the hand with the glucose needle attached to it started to bleed. One is not sure who decided, but then Shri Baijnath was taken to Hallett in the SIS jeep along with these workers. Shri Baijnath probably came back to consciousness around 10 pm in Hallett. As is mandatory for all emergency cases there was a police investigation of the case (by the Hallett Chowki) where apparently one of the supervisors of the contractor (also from Bihar) was interrogated, but the workers do not know anything about the details.

Shri Baijnath was kept in the Hallett for two days. Though he was still feeling extremely weak he was discharged on the third day when his coworkers were at work. He does not know what the diagnosis of the doctors was and he does not have any of the medical papers.Since then only a low level munshi of the site has visited him a few times. Shri Baijnath is still very weak, and keeps breaking into fever every other day, but more importantly he does not have money for daily meals let alone medicine. Further he is not under any medical supervision.

• • Since the accident he has got only Rs 500 from the contractor.

  • He has not even been given his due wages (he had worked till the 12th of this month), and he has been told to collect his pay only on the 10thof October.

  • Nobody from the contractor’s side has met him formally.

  • Nobody from the IWD has met him either, though the case is known to the department as Mr C. and Mr G. of IWD mentioned about it.

  • The contractor’s men have told Shri Baijnath that he would not be given anything more under any circumstances (chahe kuch kar lo).

A few other facts about this contractor – Rakesh Brothers:

• • Another fatal accident had occurred at this site on 26th July, 2009, where a worker fell down from one of the upper floors of the under-construction building. We have no information whether any compensation was given to the family of the deceased worker.

  • A petty contractor (for brick laying) had approached us a month back with the complain that the contractor did not pay his dues. In a manner similar to the present case, this person was told that he would not be given his dues under any circumstances (tumse jo banta hai kar lo).

  • But probably more importantly, several workers from the site had come along with Shri Baijnath with their independent complaints. Apparently the contractor at present employs over 50-60 workers (mostly from Chattisgarh and Bihar) and pays them only half the stipulated minimum wages. They do not have any ESI membership, EPF card or any other facilities. They are all paid at the site – only a couple of them have been taken to the wage office a couple of times. The employment card is filled with fictitious data just before going to the wage office. The contractor’s men use abusive language and also resort to physical violence under the mildest provocation. Their dues are not cleared for months together. The workers who had come to complain included several young women including some with infants and toddlers.

As is evident from the above account – the sight behind the barricade at the construction sites of the Institute is not pretty. Only we the residents do not get to see it, we just move in to the immaculately made finished buildings.

(Note: Report edited to remove some names.)