Residents, local shopkeepers blame contractor working on Jacob Circle-Wadala corridor for failing to implement adequate safety measures at the construction site, which they feel could have saved the crane helper's life who had recently migrated from Bihar in search of employment
Yet another tragic incident marred the ongoing monorail work after 21-year-old Mohammad Hamid Alam, a helper, was crushed to death under the front wheel of a crane at the construction site near Arthur Road Jail on Sane Guruji Marg yesterday morning.
Officials from Agripada police station at the site where Mohammad Hamid Alam was crushed to death under the left wheel of the crane. Pic/Abhinav Kocharekar
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The work was in progress on the Jacob Circle-Wadala corridor. Alam had migrated to the city in search of employment from Bihar just a week ago and joined his brother on the site. It was his brother who had referred him to the sub-contractor working at the site following which he was assigned the job of a helper on the crane.
Mohammad Hamid Alam
‘Contractor at fault’
The residents and local shopkeepers blamed the contractor for not implementing adequate safety measures at the construction site, which they said could have saved Alam’s life. Shopkeeper Mohanlal Jain said, “The incident could have been easily averted had the contractor taken proper care. Many a times we see that no guards are present at the site when equipment is transported from one location to another.
The area is full of residential buildings and a school, so extra care by the contractor to prevent loss of human life in the future is a must.” While the contractor working on the construction site at the Jacob Circle-Wadala-Chembur monorail corridor is L&T-Scoomi, J-Kumar is the sub-contractor at the site where the accident occurred.
Witness account
Recalling the horrific incident, Alam’s colleague Kishore Ram said, “We were holding the concrete pipe by its ends to prevent it from dangling from the crane’s hook when all of a sudden Alam slipped.” Ram said he and three others, including Alam’s brother-in-law, tried to alert the crane driver that Alam had slipped and was dangerously close to the vehicle’s front wheels, but to no avail.
“The driver couldn’t hear us and Alam’s face was crushed under the left wheel. His relative is shell-shocked since the time he witnessed the horrific incident,” he said. Alam’s body was sent to Nair Hospital for autopsy and the last rites will be performed in the city after his family members arrive from their hometown in Saharsa district in Bihar. “He had recently come to the city. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that something this tragic would happen to him,” Alam’s brother Mohammad Sameer said.
Copspeak
Investigation officer from the Agripada police station said, “The accident could have been avoided had the driver stopped the crane immediately. The driver is at large since the incident occurred and we have launched a manhunt to nab him.”
Officialspeak
MMRDA Joint Project Director Dilip Kawathkar said, “An untoward accident occurred on the monorail site near the SGM Chowk station area at Sane Guruji Marg at 11:45 am. A mobile crane was carrying a concreting funnel from the SGM Chowk station to the adjacent switch deck location. The helper of the crane was moving with the concreting funnel in front of the crane.
It appears that the helper named Mohammad Hameed Alam slipped, which was not noticed by the crane driver. He was run over and died on the spot. A detailed investigation is being carried out. It is being ensured that due compensation, as per the rules, is paid to the family of the deceased by the contractor at the earliest.”
Previous mishap
Two labourers died and two were injured at the monorail construction site in Chembur after an 80-tonne beam collapsed on them on July 2, 2011. It took rescue workers nearly five hours to recover the body of one of the deceased stuck in the debrisu00a0
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