With Wednesday’s mishap at a construction site near Pachaiyappa’s College, the Chennai Metro has made it to an ignominious list: Indian Metros involving fatalities of labourers during its construction.
Delhi Metro leads the way in this regard. As many as 100 persons lost their lives in mishaps during its construction since 2008 and over 45 were injured. The construction of its second phase witnessed some of its worst mishaps, including one which claimed five lives due to a bridge collapse. The mishap prompted the then Delhi Metro chief, E Sreedharan, to resign. His resignation was rejected by Delhi CM Sheila Dixit. He eventually retired in December 2011, after the construction of Phase-II of the Delhi Metro. Agencies involved in its construction were blacklisted for various periods. Till 2009 the Delhi Metro was witness to at least seven such mishaps. There was also speculation that safety was being compromised for timely completion of the project, with the Commonwealth Games round the corner.
Mumbai comes a close second. In the last four years when construction on monorail and Metro commenced in Mumbai, eight people have lost their lives to accidents with over 12 have been injured.
Bangalore’s Namma Metro had a 11-month accident-scarred stretch during 2009-10 when four persons were killed and an equal number injured at its construction sites. It was alleged that most of the accidents were due to negligence of the labourers and lack of supervision by engineers and contractors.
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