Water tank wall collapsed: Worker killed

Water tank wall collapsed: Worker killed

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 6: One person died and two were seriously injured when the wall of a water tank constructed at ground level collapsed inside the workers’ colony in Kalavaru, Bajpe on the site of the MRPL Phase III Project on the night of Friday.

The dead worker is Bhagat Singh (25) of Khetri Nagar, Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan and the injured are Rakesh Meena (22) and Ravi Naik (21) from the same place. While Rakesh has a fracture, Ravi has been injured in the eye.

The 1000 workers in the colony staged an intense protest on Saturday. The atmosphere was tense when an ambulance arrived to take the body of Bhagat Singh to the hospital for post mortem. Furious workers surrounded the police and demanded that some of them should be permitted to accompany the body. They were further agitated when the police denied them permission, and finally, the police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse them.

The workers have demanded lakhs of rupees as compensation.

Dr. Sanath Bhandary, plastic surgeon at AJ Hospital, said that Naik’s right cornea was exposed owing to a deep laceration of his eyelid, owing to which he had to be operated upon and is currently recovering. He said that Naik will have to stay in hospital for a week and take rest for two more weeks before he can be permitted to resume work.

The Suratkal police have registered a case against the labor contractor and the company.

Poor working conditions

The conditions under which North Indian labourers, especially those from Bihar, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, have to work are extremely pathetic.

Each workers’ colony comprises 10 – 13 large tin sheds with partitions to accommodate 8 – 10 workers. The labourers have to use this meager space to cook and sleep. Around 1000 workers are accommodated in each colony.

Workers say that the heat inside the sheds is unbearable and that they go in search of work because the pay here is much better than what it is back home. Since the bathrooms and toilets have no water facility, workers have to bathe outside; and since nobody cleans the water tank, workers suffer from skin problems and fever frequently.

Besides, the contractors cheat the workers of their pay on a regular basis. Although companies fix rates of Rs. 194 for helpers, Rs. 286 for fitters, and Rs. 260 for riggers, contractors pay them at least 20 – 30 percent less. Although a certain percentage of it is cut as provident fund, no worker knows where the money goes. They do not even know their PF account numbers. Since they are paid on a daily basis, they lose their pay if they fall sick or decide to visit home.

No signs of justice

Reportedly, the contractors knew that the water tank, which collapsed on Friday night, killing painter Bhagath Singh and injuring two others, was badly in need of repair.

Singh’s neighbor Lalchand told reporters that Singh was engaged to be married in three moths and has a sister and parents. He had arrived to Mangalore with 17 others seeking jobs. Singh’s colleague, nearly in tears, said that his family is waiting for the vehicle promised by the contractor to take them to the mortuary since the morning of Saturday and that there was no sign of the vehicle till noon.

The project manager said that the “matter was being investigated” and that “corrective measures will be taken as soon as they find out what went wrong,” but said nothing about taking action against the contractor.