Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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| Protection wall collapsed |
A protection wall in basement area of an under construction building collapsed on Sunday injuring about nine labourers who got trapped under the debris. Immediately after the mishap, fellow laborers showed presence of mind and undertook rescue operations thereby minimising adversity. The rescued labourers were in trauma and rushed to the hospital. Of them, two grievously injured are reportedly battling for life, four others have suffered multiple fractures and four other luckily escaped with minor injuries. The incident exposed violation of labour laws in construction sector as the workers on the jobs were not wearing safety gear although task allotted to them was quite dangerous.
According to an eye-witness, the wall collapsed at around 5.30 pm when the workers were engaged in constructing of a protection wall in the basement. “There were four walls on four side there were being constructed using concrete bricks. Of them, construction of three walls was completed. When about 30 labourers were busy in construction of a wall, one of the wall constructed on South side of the plot came crashing down. A loud sound in aftermath of crashing of the wall triggered panic and neighbours came rushing out of home to inquiry the cause of noise. To their horror people saw frenetic activity at the ongoing construction site and lot of sounds could be heard in the neighbourhood.
In aftermath of the collapse of the wall, a gang of labourers first fled fearing for their lives. But soon as seriousness of the situation dawned on them they came rushing to site and pushed themselves in danger zone to rescue their brethren The labourers were first awed by enormous task before them but using common sense they engaged in frenzied activity to pull out those trapped underneath the fallen brick wall. According to one estimate the wall being constructed in the basement were nearly ten to twelve feet tall and one can imagine the plight to labourers who got trapped underneath them. Some labourers remained under the debris for maximum 13 minutes and the injured were transported to Orange City Hospital.
The injured labourers are identified Mantu Shilu (24), Vinod Shelu (18), Surjan (18), Rajan Darshimha (18), Mansulal Bhopa (18), all are residents of Rampur, Chhindwara (MP); Ravindranath Dhurve (47), a resident of Uday Nagar, Nagpur; Sunil Uke (20), Dinesh Namdeorao Pentar (40), both are residents of Nagpur.
Soon after the incident, staff of Dhantoli Police Station and a team of Fire Rescue and Emergency Services of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) arrived at the spot.
Large numbers of onlookers also gathered at the spot after the incident. Police Sub-Inspector Balram Zadokar said that the labourers sustained grievous injuries in the accident. The police have launched investigation in the case.
Contractor to face action : DCP Rakesh Ola
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone II Rakesh Ola visited the spot after the incident. As prima facie, it appeared that the contractor -- M/s Nirmiti Developers, owned by one Samir Tiwari -- was not following guidelines of labour laws. The labourers were working without safety helmet and lacked proper dresses. We are conducing investigation into the matter and stern action will be initiated against the contractor for violation of laws,” DCP Ola further stated.
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