A construction accident at Mumbai's Sewri-Worli Connector project resulted in the death of a 19-year-old worker, raising serious questions about construction safety standards in the region.
A 19-year-old worker died after a steel frame, being carried by a crane, fell on him during the construction of the Sewri-Worli Connector at Parel in central Mumbai in the early hours of Tuesday, police said.
The incident took place near KEM Circle at Parel in which worker Ravi Giri, a resident of Nepal, died.
This is the fourth fatality caused by collapse of machinery involving infrastructure projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) over the last few days.
On April 30, police constable Santosh Chavan was killed on the Sion-Panvel highway when a piling machine toppled onto his bike. Last week, Raghunath Das and Kanha Singh, both workers on the Dahisar-Bhayandar Link Road project, died after an elevated platform collapsed on them.
In the latest case, Ravi was working on a project of Jaykumar Construction Company. He and other labourers were on the job to transport four steel frames from Acharya Donde Marg to Parel TT late night. As the crane pulled up the two heavy metal frames, Ravi and his colleague walked with them and returned to pick up another two, a police official said.
While picking up two frames, the crane operator made a mistake, causing the metal frame to shake and fall on Ravi's chest and stomach. He collapsed on the spot and lost consciousness, he said.
Crane operator Mohammed Anas Shaikh and another labourer Dheeraj Kumar rushed Ravi to KEM Hospital, where he was admitted. However, doctors declared him dead during treatment, the official said.
A case was registered at the Bhoiwada police station against crane operator Shaikh and supervisor Ani Shivdayal Giri (32) for alleged rash and negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, he said.
Further investigation into the incident was underway, the official added.
The Sewri-Worli Connector, being executed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), is a key link between the Coastal Road and the Atal Setu. While most piers have been completed, work on spans and girders is underway.