2022-12-11: One More Fatal Accident at a Construction Site in the Campus
One More Fatal Accident at a Construction Site in the Campus
Hamara Manch, December 11, 2022
Immediately after HM learnt about this accident, we tried to talk to all those who could give us some information about the incident and the person involved. We talked to the neighbours of the deceased, his co-workers and the concerned supervisors, who were present at the site at the time of the accident. We could not talk to the family so close to their loss for obvious reasons. This report is based on whatever we could gather, as there has been no communication or information forthcoming from any of the concerned authorities.
The Incident
The accident happened on Mon, 28th November afternoon, around 2-2.30 pm, at the construction site of the Type-III apartments being constructed behind the director’s residence. There are two blocks in the site - one of them is in the finishing stage presently; the accident happened at the second block which is under construction. The worker was polishing aluminium frames for doors with a hand held grinder on the ground floor. Apparently the running grinder slipped out of his hand and cut through one of his legs near the thigh and hip joint. Co-workers tied a tourniquet with a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding in the severed thigh. While the supervisors present called for an ambulance from the health centre. He was first taken to the HC, from where he was referred to the Regency Hospital. He died due to excessive bleeding by the time/ or just after he reached Regency.
The Deceased Person
The deceased Hriday Narain Pal was around 60 years old and stayed in Barasirohi close to IITK gate. His wife has a shack at that gate. His family included 3 daughters, 2 of whom are married. They stay in a joint family with the families of two of his other brothers. One of them died in a road accident a few years back, the surviving brother is a truck driver; Pal was the eldest.
Contractual Arrangements
Unlike many other buildings being constructed in the campus presently by CPWD, this particular building is being constructed under the supervision of IWD. In fact, IWD personnel are present at the site almost all the time. We were told that the building contractor is M/s Vishnu Saran. But this particular work was sub-contracted to another petty contractor by Vishnu Saran. And Hriday Narain was employed by the petty contractor. Of course, the way it works the latter two arrangements are unlikely to have any formal paper trace through a written contract and/ or appointment letter.
Apparently Rs 6 lakhs were transferred by M/s Vishnu Saran to the family’s account almost immediately after the death of Pal. Vishnu Saran has a long and chequered past when it comes to labour laws and a very brief background is necessary to appreciate the context.
M/s Vishnu Saran and the group’s other registered company, Gupta Enterprises, have made large number of buildings in the campus over the last couple of decades. While the Environment Building was being constructed by Gupta Enterprises, many workers reported violation of several statutory labour laws and the Institute was forced to form a high-powered committee which actually found the workers’ claims to be true. The workers went all the way to the CIC of India who also ruled in favour of the workers. And yet it was those workers who were ‘blacklisted’ and did not find any work by any contractor in the campus for a number of years. Their case is still sub judice in the labour court for over 13 years[1]. Meanwhile, the company continues to get regular contracts on campus despite its track record of labour law violations.
Accountability for the Accident
The fatal accident once again raises several important issues:
1. Did Hriday Narain undergo any safety training for working with a hand-held grinder that, as we are well aware, can lead to serious accidents, like in this case?
2. Did anyone from the petty-contractor or supervisors of the main contractor and/ or the IWD personnel have training in any sort of safety protocol and/ or protocol to be followed when such serious accidents happen at a work site?
3. Does HC have any protocol when such potentially life-threatening cases reach them or does their responsibility end at merely ‘referring’ the case?
Of course the answer to all such questions is likely to be in the negative.
Hriday Narain is no more and we can forget this case, like many others, by either blaming his stars, or believing that Rs 6 lakhs is a good enough price for his life. Worse, we may now even blame him for his ‘carelessness’.
And this is not an isolated case either; a list of recent HM reports on worker deaths is given below:
In January this year a gardener in the academic area died within hours of reporting for work on a severely cold winter morning[2] (the details can be found in the links provided in the footnotes).
Last July a young girl passed away where the migrant construction workers of the institute were being made to stay by the contractor in Nankari[3].
Before this we reported on the Earth Science building wall collapse where three workers were buried under it in 2019[4].
These are only the recent incidents of fatalities that have come to the notice of HM.
Concluding Remarks
Accident by its very definition is unplanned but adequate safety protocol can ensure that the chance of a mishap is reduced to the minimum possible. According to the law the Institute is the Principal Employer of the contract workers irrespective of their direct employer. And hence it is the Institute’s responsibility to ensure adequate safety norms are in place, and more importantly, they are being followed in practise. The accidents listed above suggest there have been serious lapses in oversight. Recent tendering process of the Institute suggests that there has been drastic and arbitrary reduction of workforce combined with inadequate equipment and accessories, which is likely to lead to more serious accidents[5].
How many more accidents and lives lost like that of Hriday Narain do we need before we raise and find answers for systemic issues, so that workers have a dignified and safe work environment in the campus?
[1] For more details: https://sites.google.com/site/iitkcfdevelopment/concerns/appropriation-of-daily-wages/environmental-building-construction-site?authuser=0
[5] See for instance our recent report on the new water supply contract: https://sites.google.com/site/iitkcfdevelopment/hamara-manch/hamara-manch-updates/2022-09-09-a-report-on-the-new-water-supply-and-wastewater-contract?authuser=0