Cuttack: An ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh has been sanctioned for the family of the 17-year-old girl, who was crushed to death under a steel pipe at a box drain project site at Gamadia near Kesharpur, Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) Mayor Subash Chandra Singh informed on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the Mayor held a meeting with senior officials of state Departments and ordered for putting up signages and barricading and deploying security guards at all construction sites in the city. “We had a meeting with district administration, police and other officials executing construction work including the box drain project. A review would be conducted to ascertain the reasons behind such accidents and prevent a recurrence,” Singh said.
He, however, was vehemently opposed by the local corporator as well as residents and denied entry to the fatal accident spot. They also stopped Singh and other CMC officials from meeting aggrieved family members of the girl, N Mohini Das, accusing them of the lapses and negligence, leading to mishaps at several construction sites in the city.
The ongoing construction wok for the city’s development claimed two lives in successive days due to lack of safety measures at the sites.
While a businessman died after a car plunged into Taladanda canal on Monday, a heavy MS pipe of 450 mm diameter fell on Mohini when she slipped and fell while crossing the iron foot overbridge on Tuesday. She remained trapped under it for about 45 minutes as all attempts by locals to lift the pipe using crowbar and wooden logs failed. She was later rescued by demolishing a portion of the foot overbridge using a JCB machine with the help of Fire Service personnel. Mohini had by then sustained critical injuries and succumbed at a private hospital in CDA area.
