Man suffers haemorrhage after slab falls at Eastern Freeway site

A 22-year-old resident of Chembur was injured after a concrete block fell on him while he was walking past the under-construction Eastern Freeway site near Govandi station on Saturday.

A 22-year-old resident of Chembur was injured after a concrete block fell on him while he was walking past the under-construction Eastern Freeway site near Govandi station on Saturday.FNaresh Tanwade, an engineering student at AH Patel college in Kharghar, was rushed to Shatabdi hospital nearby and later transferred to Joy Hospital in Chembur, where he underwent an operation for brain haemorrhage.

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Officials at the site claim that no construction was being carried out on the stretch and are unclear how a block of hardened concrete pried loose and fell on the victim. Work at the site is being undertaken by contractors J Kumar.

''We will investigate the incident and the guilty will be appropriately punished,'' said Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director (public relations), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is overseeing the project.

This is the tenth casualty at a public infrastructure site in the last four years, with 25 accidents occurring at Metro sites alone. The MMRDA has promised to enhance the safety of its projects, but nothing concrete has emerged so far.

Meanwhile, the committee appointed by the MMRDA to investigate the July 19 incident at Wadala, has submitted its report, but it has not been made public and the MMRDA is yet to give directives to contractors about raising safety standards.