Second day in a row, accident at a Metro site, 2 hurt

In yet another incident at an under-construction Metro site, a small capacity crane toppled over, injuring two people and crushing an auto rickshaw in southeast Delhi on Wednesday, police said.

In yet another incident at an under-construction Metro site, a small capacity crane toppled over, injuring two people and crushing an auto rickshaw in southeast Delhi on Wednesday, police said.

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This time, the incident occurred at a construction site opposite the Aali Village road in Sarita Vihar on DMRC’s Central Secretariat-Badarpur.

“Two persons, including an auto driver and a labourer working at the site were injured in the mishap,” said a senior police officer.

Police said they received information about the incident, that took place on a highly dug-up service lane between the Mohan Estate and Tughlaqabad metro stations, around 4:10 pm.

“Eyewitnesses told us that two auto rickshaws which were parked dangerously close to the construction site were crushed as the small crane (also referred to as a Hydra) toppled to its right, when it lost balance while moving some iron pipes,” the officer said.

According to police, the Hydra, that was carrying about a dozen iron rods to the mouth of an adjacent medium-sized pit, toppled when it failed to maintain balance while descending a mound of sand near the pit.

“As it fell to its right, the iron rods crushed the ceiling of the first auto rickshaw and damaged that of the other parked next to it,” said the officer.

Police said the first auto rickshaw was fortunately unoccupied as both its owner and that of the other one were sitting inside the other vehicle.

“One of the auto drivers, who suffered minor injuries and was rushed to the AIIMS, has been identified as Rajesh Kumar (33). Kumar was rushed to the Trauma Centre by his companion, Jamuna Prashad (32) immediately after the incident. Both Kumar and the labourer who have been injured are stable,” added the officer.

According to police, a high-capacity crane and another Hydra had to labour for more than half an hour to lift the construction vehicle.

“The cause of toppling is not certain and a committee headed by the Chief Project Manager (South East) has been constituted to investigate the incident,” said a senior DMRC official on condition of anonymity.