Crane topples at Metro site, 2 injured

Delhi Metro’s run of bad luck continues. Two mishaps were reported from under-construction sites in the Capital on Saturday. A labourer was critically injured in one of the incidents.

Delhi Metro’s run of bad luck continues. Two mishaps were reported from under-construction sites in the Capital on Saturday. A labourer was critically injured in one of the incidents.

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Bhuvan Bhumiya (35), employed by a Metro contractor to lay electric lines on tracks of the Yamuna Bank-Noida route, fell from an elevated corridor near Akshardham Temple in east Delhi on Saturday evening. He has been hospitalised and a case of negligence lodged.

In another incident, more than 20 workers had a narrow escape when a crane belonging to a Metro contractor developed a mechanical problem and toppled over at 90 degrees at Said-ul-ajab, near Saket, on Mehrauli Badarpur Road in south Delhi.

The snag, reported around noon, developed at the under-construction Green Park- Qutb Minar line. After the crane overturned, the operator jumped from a height of 10 feet to save himself, eyewitnesses said.

While no one was injured, a huge traffic jam ensued on MB Road after the incident as another crane was put into action. It took two hours to clear the jam, a police officer said.

“A 50-tonne crane, which was lifting a smaller capacity crane (Hydra) at the site, developed a mechanical problem as one of the cylinders used for lifting the boom (lifting arm) of the bigger crane failed,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Kedar Nath, a construction worker at a nearby building who witnessed the incident said: “We heard a huge thud and saw a crane turning turtle. The driver jumped from the crane. Petrol was leaking from the vehicle.”

Though DMRC claimed no one was injured, construction workers at the site said three of them sustained injuries and were given first aid at the site.

“We would register a case based on the PCR (police control room) call. So far no Metro worker has agreed to give a statement,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.