One labourer was killed while more than 30 injured when the metal balcony of a labour camp sited in the city’s Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park in Hinjewadi caved in late Sunday night.
According to sources, a heated altercation broke out between two labourers residing in the camp lodgings of the L & W construction site in Hinjewadi's Phase-III.
“Following the altercation, nearly 40 labourers rushed on the first floor. However, the metal structure proved unable to withstand the weight of the labourers and the metal balcony, along with the steps, caved in,” said an inspector from the Hinjewadi police station.
The subsequent fall resulted in the death of a labourer besides injuring 35 others.
The deceased has been identified as Ajab Lal (45). The L& W construction, which has two construction projects within the infotech park surroundings, houses almost 1,000 labourers, mostly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, in its camp lodgings.
The police have lodged an FIR under sections 304 (a) [causing death by negligence], 336,337 and 338 (causing grievous hurtby act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the labour camp contractor and the safety manager for using substandard material during construction of their lodgings.
In their complaint, the labourers have accused the safety manager of deliberately packing in way too many persons beyond the building’s capacity in a bid to cut costs.
The injured are undergoing treatment at Hinjewadi’s Lifepoint Hospital. No arrests have been made as yet. Further investigations are on.
The incident, yet again, has brought the deplorable living conditions of labourers into sharp relief, with the ever-burgeoning city witnessing a string of construction-related labourer deaths in recent years. In June last year, nine labourers were killed and two more injured after the slab of an under-construction building collapsed at Balewadi.
In December 2012, 13 labourers were killed when a slab of an under-construction building caved in at Wagholi, 20 km from Pune.
