Karnataka - Bangalore   

Nayak visits accident site; calls on injured workers

Visit: Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission S.R. Nayak calling on an injured worker at a hospital in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: S.R. Nayak, chairman of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, on Saturday visited the Sobha Developers construction site on Bannerghatta Road, where two workers were killed and seven injured in an accident on May 10. He also visited the injured at two hospitals in the city.

The commission has registered a suo motu case on the accident, citing a report in The Hindu (“Injured staring at bleak future”, dated May 13).

It has asked the Labour Commissioner to submit a report on the accident within six weeks.

Mr. Nayak spoke to the workers at the construction site and representatives of Sobha Developers. He later called on Sharanamma at Siddalingappa Hospital and Mehbubi and Mudukamma at St. John’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, a group of human rights organisations — People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka Domestic Workers’ Union, Slum Jagatthu, Janapara Vedike, Samanatha Mahila Vedike, Stree Jagruthi, Human Rights Law Network and Alternative Law Forum — have submitted a fact-finding report on the accident to the commission.

They have demanded that the police should carry out an investigation into the incident and file a charge sheet within a stipulated period.Taking note of other accidents at construction sites of various developers, they demanded that all of them must be compelled to comply with safety norms as per the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, International Labour Organisation’s Safety and Health in Construction Convention No. 167 of 1988 and the provisions for safety in the BBMP Building Bylaws 2003 (Section 26).

A technical inquiry instituted into the accident on Bannerghatta Road by the Labour Department has stated that “improper maintenance and negligence” on the part of the construction company led to the mishap. It says that the accident occurred “due to the failure of the main mechanical parts” of the lift carrying the workers “which is attributed to the improper maintenance and negligence on the part of Messrs Sobha Developers Pvt. Ltd.”

The company, in a release, said: “Our company has taken all precautions and safety measures as required under the manual for operating the said lift/hoist from time to time.”

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