Nagpur: A labourer who was hired to break an old dilapidated building in VNIT campus was crushed to death when the portion he was working on him fell on him on September 30, 2015.
According to sources, the labourer identified as Mukesh Shahu aged 38 years (approximately) and hailing from Chhattisgarh was hired by D B Construction Company to dismantle the old dilapidated house and reconstruct a new one in its place. On September 30, 2015 at around 1:30 pm, the portion in which he was working i.e. breaking using a hammer, suddenly collapsed uncontrollably and he was crushed in it.
While some sources claimed that he died on the spot, others claimed that he was rushed to Government Medical College and Hospital where he breathed his last while undergoing treatment.
VNIT’s move to hush-up the matter
In a surprising turn of events, the management of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) Nagpur has attempted to hush-up the matter successfully. An incident where a human life was lost in an accident and the authorities of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur did not even bother to inform the Ambazhari Police Station (under whose jurisdiction the college falls into). When Nagpur Today attempted to find the details about the case from the Ambazhari Police Station, In-Charge Police Inspector B Khade said that they do not have any information about such an incident occurring in the VNIT campus. Even at GMCH, the doctors have been coerced into not giving any information to the media.
Who is responsible for this accident?
The onus of the safety of the personnel or labourers lies with the employers. Here though the D B Construction Company was the employer, VNIT who is the principal employer has equal share in the responsibility to ensure that the labourer hired by the contractor is paid well and his safety and security is taken care of.
Though this incident may be inferred as an accident, the contractor (D B Construction Company) should have provided proper safety measures like issue of helmet, gloves and other safety equipments to his labourers.
