The family members of R. Satish, 34, a worker employed by a contractor for the Madurai Corporation, who died during a rescue operation that went wrong at Vilangudi here on Friday, have received ₹10 lakh as compensation from the State government.
Mayor Indrani Ponvasanth handed over the financial assistance (under the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund and the Tamil Nadu Construction Workers’ Welfare Board) to S. Devi, 33, the wife of the deceased. Satish, belonging to Suriyampalayam in Erode, is survived by his wife and two children aged 13 and 3.
Satish was killed while being rescued by an earthmover from a 13-foot trench in which he had been buried. He was laying the underground drainage pipeline at Ramamurthy Nagar near Vilangudi. Following the post-mortem, the family received the body at the Government Rajaji Hospital.
Tamil Nadu Construction Workers’ Welfare Board district president A. Venkatesan said, “It is a repeating pattern in the city. Deaths of contract workers occur, affecting their families, who lose their sole breadwinner. The lackadaisical attitude of the contract company, which fails to provide the workers with necessary safety equipment, and lack of monitoring by the Corporation lead to such avoidable deaths.”
‘Against outsourcing’
CITU general secretary M. Balasubramaniam said the root cause of such fatalities was the negligence of the employers who hire workers on a contract basis. “This is why we are against the concept of outsourcing workers on a contract basis, which deprives them of their rights and sometimes even their lives,” he said.
Mr. Balasubramaniam demanded the cancellation of the contracts of companies which were negligent towards their employees. “Had they cancelled the contract of VRG Construction Company, which did not provide safety equipment, leading to the death of three conservancy workers by asphyxiation at Nehru Nagar here in April, other contract companies would have been vigilant,” he said.
When such unfortunate incidents happen, the civic body must take stringent action against erring officials and ensure that rules are followed, Mr. Balasubramaniam added.
Corporation Commissioner Simranjeet Singh Kahlon said, “We are planning to meet with representatives of the contract companies to prevent the occurrence of such unfortunate events in the future.”
Koodal Pudur police have arrested three employees of the contract company — earthmover operator Sureshkumar, site engineer Sikkanthar and site supervisor Balu. An FIR was registered against them under Section 304 (A) (Causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.
