Three men fell to their death from the 10th floor of a construction site near Navshya Maruti temple in Dattawadi on the first day of Diwali. The incident happened at a project called ‘Seya’ by Pate Developers around 10 am on Wednesday morning. The site supervisor Shambhuraj Kate have been arrested by the police for the same.
The incident came days after one labourer was killed and 35 were injured after the metal balcony they were standing on at that construction site collapsed, as it could not handle the weight of the men standing on it.
In another incident from last year that rocked the real estate sector in the city, nine workers were killed after a slab of an under-construction building collapsed. The project was called Park Express by Pride Purple developers. The builders were found the to have been illegally constructing the 13th and 14th floor on a permit for 12 floors from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
While police are known to book the labour contractors, and in rare cases the builders, for these incidents which claim lives due to lack of safety gear or safety measurements, there are various laws prescribing safety measures for workers and penalties for non-compliance.
Section 40(2)(o) of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 reads: “The keeping of safety nets, safety sheets and safety belts where the special nature or the circumstances of work render them necessary for the safety of the workers”.
{{/usCountry}}Section 40(2)(o) of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 reads: “The keeping of safety nets, safety sheets and safety belts where the special nature or the circumstances of work render them necessary for the safety of the workers”.
{{/usCountry}}Section 44 of the act puts the onus of constant supervision on the employer of the labourers. In conclusion, the act defines the penalty for not following: “the provisions of any rules made under section 40” can face a fine of ₹200, prison time up to three months, both, or ₹100 for each day after first conviction.
Other such laws include Factories Act, 1948, Contract Labour (regulation and abolition) Act, 1970, Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, Industrial Employment (standing orders) Act, 1946, Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by certain Establishments) Amendment Act, 2014, etc.