The construction work had stopped years ago, and it was being made by the Ministry of Railways, said an on-site official. A 50-year-old security guard was crushed to death Tuesday morning when a pillar from an under-construction railway bridge near East Punjabi Bagh fell on him and four trucks parked under it. The construction work had stopped years ago, and it was being made by the Ministry of Railways, said an on-site official.
A statement by the Ministry of Railways read, “Grade separator for Railways at Daya Basti is being constructed by one of the agencies of Northern Railways. The work is in progress. Around 10 pm, one of the girders launched for the via-duct of the grade separator under construction fell down, damaging some of the unauthorisedly parked vehicle below it. Further investigation by police is going on to find out any casualty/trapped person below the fallen girder. Reasons for the incident are being examined.”
The victim, Ram Bahadur, is survived by his wife and six children. He and his extended family, including families of two elder brothers who work as construction workers, live in a jhuggi underneath the same bridge on the other side of the plot, now used as a parking lot for trucks, where he was found crushed by his family.
Kishan (45), his nephew, said, “The security guard’s office called at night and said a pillar had fallen and my uncle was nowhere to be found. His cycle wasn’t found. We searched everywhere. Around 8 am we found his feet sticking out of one of the trucks.” Bahadur has five daughters and was the sole breadwinner in the family, earning around Rs 11,000 a month, said Malti (30), his eldest daughter.
After two hours of struggle, around noon, his body was retrieved from the crushed truck by an NDRF team. It has been sent to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital for a post-mortem. The drivers of the four trucks were not present on the site of the accident.
A statement by Delhi Police said, “At 9.38 am, a cement cum iron gaatar of an under construction railway bridge (construction stopped since 2014, yet to confirm) was found fallen on four trucks, in which a person namely Ram Bahadur aged 50 years was crushed to death. He originally belonged to Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh. He used to work as a night watchman to the parked trucks and was sleeping inside a truck. Further investigations are on.”
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