Another Metro mishap kills one; Sreedharan blames contractor

New Delhi, July 22 (PTI) In the third accident involving
Delhi Metro in the last 10 days, a labourer was killed after
he was hit by a steel beam being lifted by a crane at its site
in west Delhi Wednesday as Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)
chief E Sreedharan put the blame on the contractor for the
fatal mishap.

The incident took place at around 5:45 am at Ashok Park
work site in Punjabi Bagh when the labourer was hit by the
beam which was being lifted by the crane.

"The beam was being lifted for staging work at the
station when the incident happened. The incident took place
only because the chain of the crane used to lift the beam
snapped," Sreedharan told reporters here. The station is part
of the under-construction Inderlok-Mundka line.

The semi-skilled worker, identified as Vicky Singh (22),
hailed from India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Singh was
guiding the crane movement and prima facie, it appears that
the beam hit him on the shoulder. He was rushed to the nearby
Maharaja Agarsen Hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

Sreedharan blamed the contractor IDEB-SUCG JV for the
accident, saying the crane used by the contractor was new and
the slings used were "not certified".

"We have a very rigorous system of checking our lifting
substances. In this case, the contractor got a new crane, a
new operator and slings. Nobody checked it," he said, adding,
the victim "should have also been little careful in guiding
the beam."
The Chief Project Manager in-charge of this line and
the Metro safety team are investigating into the incident and
an First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged, Delhi Metro
spokesperson Anuj Dayal said.
This is the third accident in the last two weeks at
metro construction sites in the national capital which raises
questions over safety at such sites.
On July 12, six persons were killed and 15 others
injured when a pillar at an under-construction Metro bridge
collapsed in South Delhi's Zamrudpur, which Sreedharan
Wednesday termed as "inglorious" incident in the Delhi Metro
history.
A day after the incident, at least six persons were
injured in another accident at the same site during clearance
of the debris.
Sreedharan said Wednesday's accident took place
despite the Metro taking all precautions after the two
mishaps.
However, he claimed that the accident rate of Delhi
Metro was less compared to other Metros across the world. "The
accident rate per million workdays is 1.1 for Singapore Metro
while it is 0.4 for Delhi Metro and 0.32 for London Metro."
Sreedharan said people are anxious about the accidents
at Metro sites. "People think that nothing goes wrong in Delhi
Metro. We cannot blame public for their high expectations from
us," he said.
He expressed confidence that Delhi Metro will get over
this "period of crisis". PTI E