MADURAI
After raising eyebrows and posting comments on social media on the horrifying incident of the death of three contract workers by asphyxiation at Nehru Nagar here on April 22, most people returned to their normal lives, but S Karthikeyan (30) could not.
The only survivor of the gruesome incident said he was hospitalised for two days and took a week off from work trying to overcome the grief of losing three of his co-workers together on a single night while giving time to stabilise his health was accused of absconding after the incident by his employer, VRG construction company worker.
“Having worked for five years in this unthankful job, I had no supervisor from the company visit me at the hospital or home. All I bore was part of my already meagre salary cut, counting my absence as leave,” he added.
Their death could have been prevented, had they been provided with safety equipment like belts, ropes, oxygen tanks, gloves and masks, said Mr Karthikeyan.
“Though the company received safety equipment gears on the strict instructions from the Corporation, they denied distributing it to the workers citing that it’ll get stolen,” he said.
For most workers, there are no weekly offs though they are overworked, as most Corporation zones are under-staffed for reasons only known to the officials concerned.
Mr Karthikeyan as an electrical engineer said he is burdened to take up jobs beyond his subject of work and he is not alone.
I Mathiyalagan, a fellow worker who raised his voice against this was fired last month. “I am also an engineering graduate but I have been getting down into sewage tanks to earn my daily bread for five years. The odour does not leave one’s body for a week,” he said.
He added that sometimes he would distance himself from his newborn baby.
They also complain of being forced to sign an empty voucher with a revenue stamp while receiving salary in cash. Many workers complain of not receiving an ESIC e-pehchan card till date, and their list of woes is longer.
“They worked even when COVID-19 pandemic struck but still their everyday working situation stands one step from getting hospitalised,” said A Ramesh, a member of CITU.
An official from the Corporation said that it is one of the primary duties of the contractor to provide the workers with necessary safety equipment. If the workers complained of issues with that, notice would be issued in this regard to the company concerned and the matter would be looked into, he added.
