Chaos and violence marred the construction site at the Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) near here on Tuesday as two large groups of workers clashed with each other following the death of Mahesh (26), a labourer from Uttar Pradesh, in the fourth such accident at the site.
Angered by the accident, the migrant workers ransacked three offices located on the construction site besides reportedly attacking the local workers.
“Over 150 computers and laptops, 10 air conditioners, an ambulance and three motorcycles, apart from office furniture and files, have been destroyed by the infuriated mob,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (Raichur) Vijayakumar Madiwalar told The Hindu .
As per eye witnesses, Mahesh was crushed under a heavy iron pipe, which slipped from a hydraulic crane while being lifted. With the assistance of local workers, he was immediately rushed to Raichur Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) in Raichur where he was declared brought dead.
Clash at site As the news of the accident spread, around 4,500 workers stopped work and gathered at the accident site. The angry workers from Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh reportedly attacked the local workers and the supervisor, objecting to their act of rushing the injured to hospital. They reportedly claimed that it would have been easier for them to claim a handsome compensation and a settlement on the spot if they had the dead body with them. The issue turned into a clash between local workers and the migrant workers.
Offices ransacked While the local workers were kept outside the main gate of the construction site by the police, the migrant workers, a majority of whom were natives of Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, went on a rampage ransacking three offices on the site for implementing the YTPS project. The offices of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), Power Mech Projects Ltd. (PMPL), and Raichur Power Corporation Ltd. (RPCL) were ransacked. As the situation went out of control, all the officers and staff of the power station fled the scene.
G. Narayanaswamy, Chief Engineer (Mechanical) of YTPS, said the loss is estimated to be Rs. 1 crore.
While two labourers had died in a landslide in the same site on January 16, two others had died in separate accidents last year.
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