A 24-year-old labourer was crushed to dead under a crane boom at one of the Metro constructions sites early Wednesday morning when it fell on him while shifting a bentonite slurry tank.
The labourer has been identified as Amarjeet Singh from Kapurthala district in Punjab.
Amarjeet had been working with JMC contractor for Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) since the launch of the Metro construction. When the accident took place, Amarjeet was working on Metro’s Reach3B (Peenya to Hessaraghatta) near Widia Factory on Tumkur Road. According to preliminary investigation, the boom was rusted and not in a position to carry a heavy load.
The Peenya police filed a case against the safety engineer and the crane operator. When contacted, BMRCL officials said that nobody could be held responsible for the death based on preliminary investigations alone.
“This was an accident. We cannot hold anyone responsible until further investigation is conducted, and we look at all the details. So many things could have gone wrong here. This was an accident, and not a planned crime,” BMRCL spokesperson BLY Chavan said. When asked about the safety checks of the crane and other equipment, Chavan said that the minimum checks that are usually done had probably been conducted.
Using an analogy of a bike, he said, “If one checks the engine every day, regular checks are invariably done.”
When DNA brought to his notice that a case had been filed at the Peenya police station, Chavan said, “They (the police) have to put it on someone. It is only after the entire investigation is done that we will know what exactly happened there and who is to blame.”
