GURUGRAM: A 38-year-old worker fell to his death from the 19th floor of a tower under construction at a group housing project in Sector 65 on Wednesday. Family members of the worker alleged there were no safety measures at the site. Last month, four workers had fallen from a wooden platform on the facade of a highrise and died at another housing site in the city. Manoj Shah, originally from Bihar’s East Champaran district, was a mason at the project site of M3M 65th Avenue and was staying at the labour camp set up on its premises. Manoj was in the lift on the 19th floor of Tower 5 around 5.30pm on Wednesday when the iron net placed along the lift ripped. He fell to the ground and suffered critical injuries.He was taken to Civil Hospital in Sector 10, where doctors declared him dead. Alleging negligence, his brother-in-law Shivbalak Kumar said, “There are no arrangements for the safety of people working at such heights. They don’t even provide helmets, safety belts or boots to workers,” Shivbalak said, adding Manoj’s death could have been avoided with adequate safety arrangements. Police said a team was sent to the construction site and another to the hospital after receiving information about the incident. Police said a case was filed against M3M and ACC India Pvt Ltd, the contractor. A representative of M3M denied that the developer had been named in the FIR. Sector 65 police station SHO Deepak Kumar told TOI, “An FIR has been registered against M3M and ACC under sections 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 304A (death by negligence) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC at Sector 65 police station. Manoj was an employee of ACC,” SHO Deepak Kumar said. On August 2, four labourers standing on a wooden platform slipped and fell 17 floors to their death at a construction site in Sector 77. They were fixing a tower crane when one of them slipped. As he lost balance and collided with another labourer, all of them lost balance and fell off the platform. There were allegations that none of the five labourers was wearing safety belts. According to norms, all labourers working at construction sites should be registered with the Building and Other Construction Welfare Board (BOCWB). None of the five workers who died in these accidents was registered. Any construction worker who has been engaged at sites for 90 days can be registered with BOCWB. Registration needs to be renewed every year for a fee of Rs 25. This is applicable only to sites with 10 or more workers. “The registered worker’s family gets instant assistance of Rs 5 lakh in case of death while working at a site. Families of those who haven’t registered are entitled to get Rs 2.5 lakh as assistance,” said a senior official from the labour department. In addition to this, labourers can also get compensation under the Workman Compensation Act. Under this Act, the labour department must ensure that the contractor and developer pay compensation to the family of a worker who dies at a construction site. In such a case, the worker’s family generally gets around Rs 10 lakh as compensation, officials said.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/worker-falls-to-death-from-towers-19th-floor-in-gurugram/articleshow/94107388.cms