Safety of workers remains confined to rule books

The collapse of an under-construction building killing three people and injuring several labourers near Bellandur on Wednesday, has again brought focus back on the safety of construction workers.

According to police sources, at least, 200 construction labourers have died in the last four years (2013 to till July 2016) in Bengaluru.  N P Samy, president of Karnataka State Construction Workers’ Central Union, said, “The labourers work in pathetic conditions without any safety measures. The building owners and engineers do not follow any rules,’’ he said.

There are technical specifications like testing soil, to check how many layers of foundation have to be laid and how many pillars have to be erected are not followed. Buildings are constructed without following specified standards.

The Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, has made it mandatory to register construction labourers to get benefits. Over nine lakh labourers have registered after the Act came into effect in 2007.

Samy, however, insists that registration of labourers is yet to pick up.
“Building owners and site engineers should be made responsible for compulsorily registering labourers working for them. It’s high time for the government to wake up and implement the rules strictly,” he said. Another officer mentioned that whenever a labourer is killed due to a building collapse, fellow labourers don’t come forward to register a complaint. They are either offered money to keep mum or threatened by the owners. In most cases, labourers don’t understand the local language and take whatever money they get and leave the place.

Relatives and friends of the dead labourers too receive some money from the owners and leave the place, he said.

Poor quality construction material and artificial materials like white sand, which are less durable, are causing an increasing number of accidents, said a senior police officer.

Previous incidents
*July 4, 2012:  An under-construction building collapsed in Garudacharpalya, Mahadevapura leaving a building contractor and labourer dead.
*July 5, 2012:  Venkatesh and his wife Narayanamma died after a wall of a building collapsed at Ambedkarnagar in Whitefield.
*August 5, 2013:  Three labourers were killed when they were carrying out centring work of a wedding hall in Kengeri.
*August 19, 2013:  Three labourers were killed after a portion of a wall of an under-construction apartment collapsed in Someshwaranagar in Jayanagar.
*September 19, 2014:  Three labourers were killed when the wall of an under-construction factory collapsed in Bommasandra.
*May 14, 2014:  Two labourers died after a wall collapsed at an apartment near Byrathi, Hennur.
*July 9, 2016:  Three labourers died when the mud wall collapsed while they were digging the ground for laying foundation for a building in Koramangala 5th block.