The New Indian Express: New Delhi: Sunday, January 14,
2018.
Delhi Metro
Rail Corporation (DMRC), which serves as a lifeline for millions of people in
Delhi-NCR, has claimed 156 lives in the process to reach that spot.
As per an RTI
activist filed by Zeeshan Haider, since 2002 till last year, 156 people working
at DMRC died due to mishaps during construction. A separate data also reveals
that in the same time period, 198 accidents killed 118 people, who were not
involved in the construction of the Metro Rail.
The data also
reveals that 103 workers were injured in the construction work as well in the
same time period.
“To increase
efficiency and the accuracy, DMRC many times ignores rules under the Labour
Law, increasing pressure on the employees. Most employees are overburdened,”
said a member of the Staff Council, which was constituted to take care of employees’
complaints and grievances.
“We at DMRC
follow international norms of safety while construction. Any death is
unfortunate, but fatalities do take place. Each case is investiged. It is
needless to say that we take care of our staff,” said Anuj Dayal Chief, public
relations officer, DMRC.
Former DMRC
employee Vinod Saha , who is fighting a case of employee harassment at Central
Administrative Tribunal (CAT), was allegedly shunted out for raising his voice
against corrupt malpractices. “Delhi Metro looks nice from the outside but from
inside, its officers are immensely corrupt and the lower level employees are
treated like bonded labour,” said Saha, who headed DMRC’s RTI cell for two
years before being terminated in June 2016.
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