A construction worker, who was employed in Dubai and became crippled after suffering injuries in a cooking gas cylinder explosion near his work site, on Monday petitioned Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao requesting medical aid and solatium from Chief Minister’s general relief fund.

In his petition to the Collector on grievance redressal day, K. Chakravarthy, 30, from Siraikulam in Kadaladi block, said he went to Dubai two years ago and worked in a construction firm as labourer for about a year and looking after cleaning and maintenance for about six months.

He was engaged in cooking at a place allotted to workers near the site on August 15, 2018 when the gas cylinder exploded. He suffered burn injuries. After offering initial treatment at the local hospital, his firm sent him home in December last. But he was yet to make full recovery from the injuries. He went to Dubai as a hale and healthy person and returned home crippled, he said.

Due to severe deformities, he could neither go for work nor could afford proper treatment. Doctors suggested plastic surgery but he could not afford it. He was the sole breadwinner of the family, he said adding that his wife Jayarani, 29, was a homemaker and his two children aged 8 years and 4 years were going to school.

Mr. Rao directed officials from the public health department to look into the best medical treatment for him.