Gurgaon: Labourer digging for sewer line falls into pit, dies

The victim was a resident of Begusarai in Bihar

One labourer died, another one was seriously injured and a third had a narrow escape after they were trapped in the soil while digging for a sewer pipe of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) in Sector 43 on Monday evening.

Police and rescuers at the scene of the incident on Monday. (HT PHOTO)

The labourers fell into a pit, almost 15-20 feet deep, that they had dug to lay the sewer pipeline, the fire department officials said. The work was being carried out by a contractor hired by the MCG.

All three labourers, aged around 20, were from Bihar and the injured was admitted to Paras Hospital where he is undergoing treatment.

The deceased has been identified as 20-year-old Santosh from BeguSarai, Bihar and the injured labourer is Shintu from Vaishali, Gaurav Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of the Sushant Lok police station said.

“The third worker was rescued by the public before the firefighters arrived,” Lalit Kumar, assistant fire officer, said.

The incident happened around 4.50 pm and the police and fire officials immediately rushed to the spot.

“All three were in the pit, which was at least 20 feet deep, and the loose soil fell on them. One of them had his legs stuck in the soil and was pulled out by rescuers. Another was seriously injured and was stuck at least 10 feet inside the soil,” Kumar said.

The victim was buried under the soil and his neck fell on the spade with which he had been digging the surface, Kumar said.

Sushant Lok SHO Gaurav Kumar said that the digging started on Monday. The police detained the operator of the earth moving machine and the supervisor from the site immediately after the incident.

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The contract for digging the pit for the sewer line was awarded to Rajesh Kumar.

Gopal Kalawat, a former engineer of MCG said that the work had been recently been assigned to the private contractor and neither the MCG nor the contractor “was really at fault”.

“This was an accident and we will try our best to compensate (the victim’s family),” he said.

Jitender Singh Chauhan, BJP’s district media coordinator, said the contractor has been asked to compensate the family of the deceased.

“The victim’s family will be given a compensation package of about ₹2 lakh. The family has agreed to accept it. The contractor will bear the expenses for his funeral in Bihar,” said Chauhan, who mediated during a meeting between the labourers and the contractor in the wake of the incident.

The victim’s body will be kept in the mortuary till his family members arrive . No police case has been registered till now.