2 FIRMS BOOKED FOR 3 CHILDREN DROWNING NEAR PANVEL RLY STN

NAVI MUMBAI: A day after three girls drowned in a pit at a railway construction site near the Panvel station, the Khandeshwar police on Tuesday booked the contractors for alleged negligence.

According to the police, the water-filled pit was dug during the monsoon for developing a subway and platform. The Railways and the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) have undertaken a Rs154crore project to turn the station into a terminus and the contract was awarded to two companies — SN Naik and Brothers and Sai Project Private Limited.

“The contractors did not put barricades all on sides of the 15-feet deep pit. Thus, the minor girls, who were 8, 10 and 13-years old, could easily enter the site. While playing, they ventured into the water and drowned,” said Yogesh More, senior inspector of Khandeshwar police station.

“We can see negligence on the contractors’ part and thus have registered an FIR under section 304a (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code against them,” he said. No arrests have been made so far.

An official from SN Naik and Brothers said, “We had put steel barricades on the platform side of the pit as instructed by the Railways. There was no instruction to put barricades on other sides. However, after Monday’s accident, they instructed us to put barricades on all sides and we will do that soon.” Despite repeated attempts, officials from Sai Project Private Limited were unavailable for comment. Public relations officer for CR, AK Jain, refused to comment.