Hours after the death of seven construction workers at a under-construction site at Lakshmipuram, Guntur Urban Police have registered cases against the builder, subcontractor and the labour contractor under sections 304 (A) IPC, causing death due to negligence and 337 IPC, causing hurt by act of endangering life.
An FIR was registered at Pattabhipuram police station at 12.30 a.m. on Sunday in which the names of builder Chukkapalli Ramesh, subcontractor Vinod and labour contractor N. Ramu were included.
Vasimalla Prabhudas, a construction worker, gave a statement before the police holding the builder, subcontractor and labour contractor directly responsible for the accident.
Seven young men, all in the age group of 18-24 years, were killed when they were trapped under a huge earthen mound which caved in at the rear of the complex. The workers were engaged in centering the iron frame of a concrete pillar to build the compound wall of a shopping complex — Phoenix Mall — at Lakshmipuram.
The chances of their survival have been ruled out after the compound wall of an adjacent restaurant collapsed and fell on the mound of earth and loose soil. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were pressed in and they were able to extricate the seven bodies by 2 a.m. on Sunday.
Mr. Ramesh had entered into an agreement with Dr. Subba Rao to develop the site (Padmavathy Buildings) measurements of which extend to 1,892 square metres in the year 2014 and later gave the sub contract to a Hyderabad based contractor, Vinod. Earlier, the site had been leased to a Hero Honda showroom.
The building plan mentioned that a two-floored Cellar for parking and a four-floored shopping complex would be constructed. Work began in 2015 and so far, concrete pillars have been laid. The soil testing was done by students of RVR & JC College of Engineering.
“We have told the builder that the compound wall of an adjacent restaurant is weak due to continuous seepage of water used for washing dishes. We had also noticed that the loose soil is beginning to crack. Even on Saturday, we aired our concerns to sub contractor, but the latter insisted we should complete the work as the readymade concrete machine is arriving on Sunday. He also threatened that our weekly payment will not be given unless we complete the work and made us work till evening. In this way, the negligence of builder and contractor has caused the death of workers,’’ said Mr. Prabhudas.
The lone survivor in the incident, Vasimalla Mariababu, is battling for his life at the GGH.
