A pall of gloom descended on the 30-acre plot next to the service road on the ring road, opposite Lumbini Garden, where as many as eight tanks were being constructed over the past two years as a part of a sewage treatment plant (STP).
As three engineers — two site engineers and one supervisor — were killed and 16 workers were injured after the roof of an under-construction digester of the STP collapsed, the other workers expressed fear and hesitation about returning to work.
According to a worker, a pillar which was constructed to support the centering had developed a crack. “We are in utter shock. How can we get back to work tomorrow? Who should we blame if the tank which we are building falls on us,” asked Praveen.
The site of the mishap is also the place where the office of the executive engineer, sewage treatment plant of Hebbal division is located. Questions are now being raised over the quality of work of the BWSSB and how it failed to take cognisance of the quality of work that led to the accident.
“The question is not about one tank. It is about seven other tanks, which are being built here. The work on the rest of the tanks should stop immediately. The BWSSB and other officials concerned should inspect the quality of construction of the other tanks to prevent further tragedies,” said one of the workers.
For some others, it was anxiety over whether work will continue as it was a question of livelihood. Many of them are migrants from West Bengal and Bihar.
“We came here for work around 10 months ago. Now, we do not know if the work will continue. We do not know what to do if the construction work of other tanks stops. As of now, we have not been told anything,” said a worker who is from Bihar.
A contractor, who is overlooking construction of another sewage treatment plant on the same site, said there is no reason for panic. “Building huge tanks like these is not an easy task. Many issues need to be taken into consideration, from planning to stability of the building to the safety of the people who work at the site, as these projects need years to get completed. Other tanks at the site are strong and are built properly. We do not know what went wrong here,” he said.
Saved by food break
The saviour for many labourers was a food break.
“While interacting with the engineers, they told me that only five minutes were left to complete the concrete work. As the work was nearing completion, the supervising engineers asked the construction workers to get down and have food. A majority of them came down. The deceased engineers, along with a few workers, were present on the top. There would have been more causalities had all of them been on top,” said Tushar Girinath, Chairman, BWSSB.
Location aided rescue work
The location of the site, which is not on the main road, and is not situated in the middle of a residential or a commercial area, aided the rescue operation.
“As it is a 30-acre plot with a lot of space, we could easily get as many fire engines as we wanted for the rescue operation. Initially, with the help of police and other workers, we carried out the rescue operation before being joined by the NDRF team,” said an official from the Fire and Emergency Services Department.
The police and Fire and Emergency department officials were initially worried about rushing the injured to hospitals nearby as there was a strike. However, emergency wards in all the hospitals were functioning.
“Doctors in the three hospitals we rushed the patients to were very cooperative. They immediately admitted the injured and started treatment,” a police officer said.
