Games, Metro projects saw 115 labourers’ deaths

Minister of labour and employment Mallikarjun Kharge told Parliament on Thursday that 115 people died while working on several Commonwealth Games related projects. He was replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Minister of labour and employment Mallikarjun Kharge told Parliament on Thursday that 115 people died while working on several Commonwealth Games related projects. He was replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

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While 109 people were killed at different sites of the Delhi Metro, six died in accidents during the construction work at the Akshardham Village, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Delhi Metro’s phase I and II construction, perhaps the biggest Games related project, was completed just in time. The compensation paid to the families of the victims range between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 10.85 lakh, the minister said.

“Deaths do occur at all mega sports events across the world but the numbers are not as high as India,” said Miloon Kothari, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. “The scale of human rights violations
and negative impact of such events are much worse in India than other mega events in other countries,” he said.

Compensation was also given to families only after the court intervened,” Kothari added.

Dunu Roy, Director, Hazards Centre, believes that the real number is much than that provided by the ministry. “The figure provided by the labour department is only that of registered labour as no records for unregistered and contractual labour is maintained, the very area in which the mortality rates were high,” he said.