CITU team inspects accident site, meet management and injured workers

Security lapse took lives of workers

Avinash Elegance accident

Raipur (Team Newsbuddy): CITU’s five-member delegation which included CITU leaders MK Nandi, Dharmaraj Mohapatra, Maruti Dongre, Rajesh Awasthi, KK Sahu reached the accident site this afternoon and inspected the accident site and also discussed with the management present on the spot. CITU expressed deep displeasure over the fact that the delegation was being prevented from going to the spot, for this the ban of police and administration was cited, on this CITU leader Dharmaraj Mohapatra spoke to Superintendent of Police Shri Lal Umed Singh and after his intervention the inspection of the site of the accident was possible. The delegation also visited the hospital and talked to the injured workers.
The delegation found that rusted rods and pipes were used in the centering structure made for roof casting. The ply sheets used as centering plates were also very worn out and very old. Instead of using nut bolts to join the centering pipes, they were tied with old and rusted thin rods which failed to give a strong base to the centering. Overall, the necessary safety arrangements were not made for the safety of the workers. The centering of the seventh floor was given a base directly on the sandy ground through pipes. These pipes could not give a strong base to the 900 square feet area situated at a height of 30 meters. It is clear that the workers had to lose their lives due to gross criminal negligence.
When all these shortcomings were discussed with the management, they admitted that the accident occurred due to the failure of the structural frame and accepted that there was a human error somewhere. The Avinash Group management said that the contract for casting work was given to Classic Construction. Avinash Group was seen trying to blame the petty contractor for all the negligence. It was told that Classic Construction had employed 80 to 120 laborers. When asked about the PF, ESI identity cards of the laborers, the management was unable to give a satisfactory answer about it.
Regarding the compensation to be given to the deceased, it was told that Rs. 12.70 lakh compensation was given to Baloda Bazar labourer Rehmat Beg and Rs. 15 lakh compensation was given to Balrampur labourer Pando.

The delegation also went to the hospital and met the injured labourers. Vishwajeet Chelak, Kuleshwar Dhruv, Ritesh Kumar, Tejaram Sahu and Komal Nirmalkar are being treated in the hospital. The injured labourers say that there were no safety arrangements, the labourers were not given anything in the name of safety guards. The labourers were made to work without any safety measures at a height of about 40 metres on the seventh floor.

CITU found that this incident is a case of murder of labourers in the absence of safety arrangements. The gross negligence of the state’s safety department and labour department is also responsible for the FIR not being registered on this till now. CITU demanded that this entire accident be thoroughly investigated, a minimum compensation of Rs. 50 lakhs be given to the families of the deceased, arrangement of permanent employment in the company be made for one member of their family, free treatment and adequate financial assistance be given to the injured and proper arrangements be made for the care of their families until they are able to work, the construction company be booked for murder and meaningful steps be taken to prevent the increasing industrial accidents and such accidents in the state and immediate steps be taken to fix the accountability of the Industrial Safety and Labor Department and rectify it.