Labourers’ deaths put spotlight back on construction site safety

The death of two labourers at a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) construction site on Tuesday has once again put the spotlight on safety violations at construction sites and triggered calls for stricter guidelines and accountability.

Girish Tumakuru, state general secretary, Karnataka State Construction and Quarry Labourers Federation, AITUC, pointed out that advanced technologies and heavy machinery are available for underpass construction, but labourers are still tasked with carrying out work at sensitive portions of the worksite.

“Contractors don’t use any advanced technology and exploit labour. Government officials, be it from the civic body or the Labour Department, must ensure that such precautionary measures are met, but even they ignore them,” he said.

He stressed that the lack of stricter norms and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for contractors has led to a recurrence of such incidents. Accountability also evades enforcement, as it ends with providing compensation to the labourers. “In such civic sites, the deaths are at least reported, but in several industrial areas, many deaths go unreported. As many labourers are migrants, even their families won’t speak out, and the matter ends with issuing compensation,” he said.

Not an isolated incident

Mr. Tumakuru pointed out that two such worksite mishaps have unfolded across the city within a span of two months, killing nine labourers.

Such incidents are also not new to the city, as Bengaluru has been ranking first among metropolitan cities for recording the highest number of deaths due to civic negligence for the past six years.

BDA announces compensation

Meanwhile, in a statement, the BDA said that the incident occurred around 10:45 a.m. at the underpass construction site, where work is being executed by PJB Engineers Pvt. Ltd., the appointed contractor for the turnkey project. “A turnkey project is a contract in which the contractor is responsible for the complete execution of the project, including design, construction, and commissioning, and hands over a fully functional facility to the client,” the statement said.

The BDA said that it is providing ₹8 lakh compensation to each of the families of the two deceased workers. “Injured workers are being treated at the nearest hospital, and necessary medical treatment is being given. The BDA will take care of the medical expenses,” it said.