Guwahati, June 13: The heart-wrenching incident of the death of the young girl from Little Flower School on June 8, 2023, in Ganeshguri exposed the yawning gap of safety audits in the ongoing construction work due to lack of required supervision by officials concerned.
As the similar construction work has been laid all over the city, the incident calls for an immediate and comprehensive third-party safety audit in the entire city to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
On the contrary, this is not the first time that such kind of accident occurred due to the negligence of safety from the contractors of the construction works.
In a latest incident that occurred on June 13, an iron shuttering fell from the underside of an under-construction flyover in Maligaon where two persons were injured on Tuesday.
Reportedly, the iron shuttering abruptly fell from the underside of the flyover on a four-wheeler vehicle below.
Both the victims hailed from Nalbari and are admitted to the Swagat Hospital. One of the victims is critically injured.
Earlier on May 17, one worker fell from the under-construction Zoo Road flyover and was critically injured. Reportedly, the victim sustained head injuries and was bleeding from ears and nose.
Although, the worker was rushed to hospital for medical assistance but the incident was not reported to the police till late.
In an another instance, one construction worker lost his life on March 28 in an accident at the construction site of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Changsari area of Guwahati.
The deceased was identified as Kameshwar Prasad Singh, who was a resident of Bihar, died when he was unloading goods from a truck while heavy materials fell on him.
On May 12, a crane working on the construction of the bridge near Basistha toppled causing injuries to two people who were on a scooter.
The two passengers, male and female, while passing through the traffic, fell prey to the tumbling crane and sustained injuries. Both of them were rushed to the hospital for immediate medical aid.
However, in a stern warning to the Deputy Commissioners, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed his disappointment with their lack of initiative in addressing the issue of road accidents caused by potholes, and roadside pits in Assam.
CM Sarma specifically reprimanded the DC of Kamrup (M), Pallav Gopal Jha, for failing to take appropriate action despite the onset of the monsoon season.
The chief minister directed DC Jha to immediately ensure that all pits and potholes in Guwahati are covered or barricaded. He raised concerns about the safety of the ongoing drainage construction work in Guwahati's Ulubari area, emphasizing that during the upcoming floods, it would be difficult for people to distinguish these uncovered holes.
With repeated accidents in the city due to unplanned construction works and lack of safety measures and supervision from officials, it also points towards government’s lackadaisical attitude which has left the citizens in woe and worry.
Documenting the lack of safety protocols during the construction works, Rajesh Sharma, Incharge of Aam Aadmi Party, Northeastern states, had earlier shared a video showing the carelessness of the workers on a flyover in the city as they continue their welding activities with sparks falling down on vehicles below.
Meanwhile, in many places in the city, it is seen that even after completion of the construction of the footpaths, contractors don’t bother to remove the construction materials which remain dumped on the roadside.
These dumped materials on the road are making it difficult for people to drive their vehicle and also creates a nuisance for the peddlers.
Apart from citizens dealing with hazards of construction work, they also have to suffer from waterpipe bursts as two major incidents rattled the city.
Another pipeline of Guwahati's water supply project burst on Monday, causing a flood-like situation at Rajgarh-Commerce link road in the city. The pipeline, which was recently installed, burst near Guwahati Commerce College, leading to panic in the area.
While there was no casualties in the incident, reports said properties worth lakhs of rupees were damaged.
Videos in the social media showed the gushing of water flooding the areas around it as vehicles waded through the waterlogged areas.
Assam Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Ashok Singhal said a high-level inquiry has been launched into the incident.
Last month, a woman was killed after a water supply pipe maintained by JICA burst in Guwahati’s Kharguli area. Over 600 people were affected and around 30 persons were injured.
The Government has announced a probe into the incident. The probe will fix accountability on erring supervising officials and contractors whose callousness led to the man-made disaster, it will be important to send a stern message to all implementing agencies and officials, government as well as private, in respect of all mega projects to ensure that public safety is not compromised under any circumstances.
The repeated accidents in the city due to the unplanned construction work also points towards the Assam State Disaster Management Authority and Public Works Department not putting in place an effective disaster-response and safety protocol for rescue operation in the event of the bursting of a large waterpipe passing through the thickly populated city or immediate measures for the accidents that occurred due to the ongoing construction works.
Even after several deaths and near-death accidents, authorities are yet to find a permanent solution to the issues. Citizens have raised concerns about the ignored dug-up pits and careless construction work in the city questioning why it had not been rectified promptly and how many deaths will take the government to wake up from their slumber. It has now become a challenge for the people of Guwahati to survive as they step out of their homes and step into a city that is rapidly under construction.