Crane collapse: ‘Scared’ colleagues hunt for answers

NEW DELHI: When Suraj Shivpal was asked to board a tower crane for the first time at a construction site in Delhi two years ago, he believed he was safe despite the height. In case he fell off the crane, a safety belt tied to his waist would save him.

It was only after the death of his four colleagues at a Delhi Development Authority’s construction site in Narela on Monday that Shivpal realised that the tower crane itself came crashing down. “We were trained about the safety aspects, but were never told about the possibility or the consequences of a crane collapse,” said Shivpal.

As Shivpal and his colleagues grieved the death of their colleagues on Tuesday, they wondered what resulted in the collapse. The accident left no survivors and there were allegedly no eyewitnesses. “The people who may have known what happened are dead. We would be less afraid if we at least knew what exactly had happened,” said his colleague Tauheed.

In the first information report (FIR), the police have attributed the fatal accident to a “leak” in the “hydraulic pressure” of the tower crane. The four men were in the lifting cage of the crane when it came crashing down from a 35-metre height late Monday afternoon. The DDA has blamed the crash on a “malfunction” and said that a “fact finding inquiry” has been initiated.

The police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery). They were, however, yet to make any arrests till Tuesday.

Rajneesh Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini), said that the i nitial probe has revealed that the man responsible for the maintenance of the tower crane was 30-year-old service engineer Pramod, who was among the four people killed in the accident.

The DDA has blamed the accident on a private firm that had been tasked with the construction work. The DCP, however, said that it was a collective failure” that involved this firm and another company that was on sub-contract.

For the colleagues of the dead workers, the tragedy has dampened their plans of Diwali . “We had all planned to go to our homes for Diwali. We were being granted leaves for 12 days,” said Vijay Kumar Nishad, uncle and colleague of one of the victims, Sonu Nishad.

Vijay said Sonu, a native of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, worked for a monthly salary of ₹11,000 and was the sole earning member of his family that included his parents and three younger siblings.

“All the four men would discuss how their families had been seeking matches for them,” said Nishad.