Bad News Again- Death of Another Worker at IITK

From people on the IITK Campus-

Another death in the campus – the FIFTH such occurrence (not including
20-year old Tinku who fell down from the under – construction Core Lab
building, broke his back, and the last we know he had become a
quadriplegic) in the last two years. The Institute authorities have not
issued a formal communiqué yet. But the sketchy details which we have got
from two official sources, the IWD and the Security Office, are as
follows:

The death occurred on 26th July, 2009 (Sunday) between 9-10 pm in the
night. The person, one Mr. Shafiq Ahmad, fell down from the
under-construction IME (inside academic area, in front of Aero) building.
Apparently he was not working on the site and had come prospecting for
work on that day itself and was told to start work from the next day. He
was asked to stay on the site itself and while he was going to sleep on
the roof he fell down. He was found by the SIS guard on duty and was taken
to the health centre (HC). He was declared dead and yet was referred to
Hallett hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The body was then
handed over for post mortem and a police FIR was also lodged. And on
Monday it was arranged for the body to be sent back to his native place.
He hailed from a village in Bihar.

Several issues of concern emerge from this official version. They are:

• What was a person not employed in the Institute in any capacity
doing in
the campus on a site under construction?
According to point 12 of the Office Order issued by the Director on the
16th September, 2007: No worker, or the family members, shall be allowed
to stay on the campus without proper authorization. Contractors shall
declare the names of such workers (and their family members, if any) who
wishes to stay back at the work site on the request, and personal risk and
liability of the contractor(s) shall have to obtain prior permission from
the Institute through the administrative in-charge of the
project/contract.

• The second issue which emerges immediately from this official
version is
the completely arbitrary hiring (and firing) policy followed in the
Institute by the contractors. There seems to be no procedure in place in
spite of the detailed office order (referred above) on this issue. Any
person, even a migrant labour, can walk into a site and seek employment
and may be allowed to stay overnight on the site. It follows that the
person can be fired too without any procedure, completely compromising all
norms of the legal hiring and firing procedures.

• The third issue which emerges from the account is that of safety.
There
have been several deaths in the campus at work site due to lack of basic
safety procedures and equipments and still work continues in all spheres
without any concern for safety. We have seen that on all the construction
sites in the campus at present (the IME building, Hall X, the construction
in front of the swimming pool), work going on till late in the night, at
least till 8 pm. The workers including women and underage children work
without any helmets, gloves, or any other equipment, often at dangerous
heights. This death may have occurred after work hours, but the practices
indicate that accidents, including fatal accidents, are merely waiting to
happen. After 16 Sep. office order, safety committee gave a detailed 50
page report in December 2007, but the administration seems to have not
even read it, let alone implementing it.

We have some information from various unofficial, unconfirmed sources -
SIS guards, workers at the site and health centre, other individuals who
knew the worker personally, – the key thing which seems to be emerging is
that most likely Shafiq has been working in the Institute for some time
and had only taken a break for a few days for some reason, and had again
joined (or was going to join the next day) back work. There seem to have
been serious lapses elsewhere too, including at the health centre. But the
primary issue is how many more deaths will it take for the community to
take notice? Or would another well worded office order on paper suffice on
the eve of the grand Golden Jubilee celebrations?

What should we do?

A lot needs to be done, but to start with, shall we send a signed letter
to the community condemning this incident, and seek for a response to the
issues raised from the Institute?