Kondhwa wall collapse: Organisations demand schemes for labour safety
However, labour organisations have maintained that the builders turn a blind eye towards the law and in the absence of effective regulation of the industry do not fear the state anymore
The city has witnessed multiple incidents involving construction labourers and in most cases, police have booked builders and contractors, but what is lacking are safety measures by developers and execution of provisions under various labour laws.
On February 20, three labourers lost their lives and eight were injured after a slab from an underconstruction temple site at Pimple Gurav collapsed. The contractor identified as Rahul Japtap, 36 had been arrested by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police. On January 16, two workers were killed in an accident on a construction site of The Ritz Carlton hotel, next to Business Bay, located near Boat Club road. Two people, including Arvind Chauhan, owner of a realty company and the site supervisor, were booked for causing death of the two workers due to negligence.
However, labour organisations have maintained that the builders turn a blind eye towards the law and in the absence of effective regulation of the industry do not fear the state anymore.
Ajit Abhyankar, president, Bandhkam Kamgar Sanghatna, in a statement said that the safety norms were thrown out of the window which resulted in the Kondhwa wall collapse tragedy. “The real estate developers are responsible for the deaths and booked under the charges of murder. The labour department must carry out surprise checks at all construction sites in the city and take strict action in cases of violations,” he said in a joint statement signed by office-bearers Bharti Avsare and Vasant Pawar.
Nitin Pawar, general secretary, Bandhkam Mazdoor Sabha, said that the city was becoming the capital of labourer deaths in the country and both the political and administration has been ineffective in providing and implementing labour rights to the sections exploited by the real estate developers. The citizens must take up this issue with the government, he said.
“The government has collected a corpus fund of ₹32,000 crore from one per ent cess for labour welfare fund. Instead, the said amount is being spent on anti-overty drives when it should have been spent for the socio-economic upliftment of the labourers,” Pawar added.
A cross section of labour welfare-oriented organisations, including Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai), have stressed that the safety of workers at construction sites is of paramount importance.
Suhas Merchant, president, Credai, Pune Metro, said, “Our organisation has been on the forefront of not only encouraging its members to follow all safety norms, but has also been instrumental in training workers about safety. Many initiatives have been taken up by Credai Pune Metro in this regard in the past. Distribution of safety kits among workers was also undertaken. Being an apex industry body, CREDAI will surely chalk out a plan to bring more attention to the safety aspect of construction workers.”