Security stepped up for Metro construction sites

Five people have been killed during the construction of the city’s first Metro line which began in February 2008. Zeeshan Shaikh reports.

Five people have been killed during the construction of the city’s first Metro line which began in February 2008.

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The latest victims were two brother, who fell into a water-filled pit on Saturday morning. This was the fourth case of a fatal accident on the Metro construction site.

Although there have been only two fatalities during actual construction activity, the deaths on Metro sites have raised safety concerns.

“We have already increased the number of guards to ensure that people do not enter into the construction area. We have deployed a second ring of barricades along all the pits to ensure that no one falls into them,” said a spokesperson of Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd, requesting anonymity.

The MMOPL has appointed a third-party safety auditors to ensure compliance of safety norms by their contractors. MMRDA officials also claimed that they would ask MMOPL to improve vigilance on the construction site to avoid such incidents.

The construction of Metro line in one of the busiest areas of Mumbai is a high-risk activity with most of the available working area either surrounded by busy bustling roads or shops.

In August 2009, a worker employed for construction of the Metro line was electrocuted. In March, the police found a body from a pit on the Metro construction site.