Bengaluru: Ladder could have saved workers’ lives

BENGALURU: Confined within a 6-foot diameter dark and long steel pipe 4-5ft below the earth, migrant labourers were working overtime on Tuesday evening to complete the state government's ambitious Cauvery 5 stage work executed by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
But the record rainfall and lack of safety equipment spelt their doom.
When tragedy struck, welders Dev Bharath Kushwaha, 36, from Bihar and Ankit Kumar Sahani, 23, from UP were inside the pipeline. When they planned to get out, they were persuaded to finish the work by project managers despite rain. Unfortunately, they did not have a ladder or rope to make their way out or wriggle out through a hole on top of the pipe.
“There was no safety equipment. We managed to get inside the pipeline and finished our work. But project manager Shivakumar and site engineers Harish Reddy and supervisor Manoj Yadav directed us to continue till 9pm despite our pleas to come back next day early,” said B Thrilok, a labourer who escaped death by a whisker, in his police complaint.
He added, “We work 6-7ft below the earth without protective gear. There was not even a ladder around. By 7.30pm, rain water started flooding the pipeline. I shouted to Bharath and Ankit to hurry up and jump out of the pipeline. Somehow, I managed to climb up. They tried to climb up and I stretched my hand to pull them up. But due to rain, our hands were slipping and I couldn’t pull them out. Both disappeared in the muddy water. I did not even have a phone to inform others.”
When another labourer arrived and asked them to stop work, they were able to convey the news that two men had been washed away. “On Wednesday morning, after pumping out the water, we retrieved their bodies,” Thrilok said.
Based on the complaint, police arrested project manager Shivakumar from Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Estate, site engineer Harish Reddy, HR manager Narasimha Raju and supervisor Manoj Yadav and booked them under section 304A (causing death due to negligence) of IPC.