Girder collapse kills metro rail worker

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Chennai: A 22-year-old worker was crushed to death and three others injured when a massive iron structure used for metro rail construction came crashing down near St Thomas Mount subway early Thursday.
Dimple Shah, a native of Beraria English village in Bihar, was crushed to death and his colleagues Sameer Khan (21), Nandan Paswan (23) and Mumtaz Ansari, also hailing from Bihar, sustained serious injuries when a 400-tonne girder used to place pre-cast concrete segments between two pillars of the elevated corridor, fell from 50feet aboveground owing to lack of counterweight.
CMRL officials attributed the fall to the lifting girder being in a state of unbalance, which caused the entire girder to pitch forward and downward. However, workers on duty faulted the site engineer and said the unbalance was noticed and the engineer alerted before the fall, but he ignored the warning.
Mishap at metro rail construction
> Co-workers had warned site engineer on lack of counter- weight at the girder.
> Workers were paid Rs 225 per day (eight hours) and Rs 25 extra for every hour.
> Salary denied, if safety norms were questioned by workers.
Get on girder or go to room without salary

Locals and policemen look at the collapsed girder at the CMRL’s worksite near St Thomas Mount subway.
Dimple Shah, 22, of Bihar would have been alive and happily sharing pan and cracking jokes with his worker-friends at their Ambal Nagar mansion on Thursday, if only his site engineer Kuldeep Singh heeded the warning of workers. 
Workers who were witness to the gruesome accident that claimed their friend Dimple’s life at metro rail work site near St Thomas Mount subway around 3.50 am Thursday, told Deccan Chronicle that they had warned site engineer Kuldeep about lack of counterweight at the other end of the girder, but he ignored it.
 “We noticed the girder lifting nearly 5mm from the base at the other end (launching end) due to lack of adequate counterweight. I warned Kuldeepji. He said the girder was only one foot away from sitting on the next pillar. He insisted on continuing with the weight imbalance,” said Rajiv Ranjan, who along with a few other workers stood atop the 400 tonne launching-girder that came down crashing and reduced Dimple nearly to pulp seconds after the engineer ignored his warning.
“It is risky to employ men atop the girder during the launch. Dimple and a few other workers had resisted Wednesday last night too. But, they climbed on the girder, conceding to the engineer's pressure,” Swaraj Chaudhary, another worker, who was on duty during the fateful moments, said and quoted the engineer as saying, “Either get on the girder or go to your room without salary.” 
Many among the 21 workers who were on duty revealed that site engineer Kuldeep Singh was operating the automatic girder launch from below, while Dimple handled the “power pack” in the overhead girder. As soon as the machine came down crashing, site engineers Kuldeep Singh, Maruthpandi and mechanic Sanjay ran from the site, the workers alleged.
“We shouted for help. Even the very few neighbours, who came out after hearing the thud, were scared to get close to the collapsed structure.  Then we rushed to St Thomas police station, which was a stone throw away,” the workers lamented.
Residents thought it was quake
A rude thud and deafening screech woke up residents of Raja Street at St Thomas Mount around 3.50am Thursday. Some bewildered residents even mistook it for a quake. Scuttling out of their houses, they noticed a cloud of dust and continuous groan emanating from the metro rail work site enveloping the Padavettamman Temple overlooking Railway Station Road.
While most frightened residents kept a safe distance away, few worked up the courage and inched closer to the site only to find the mangled remains of a worker crushed beyond recognition. It took ten minutes for them to realise that the 400tonne iron girder they casually walked beneath the previous night had come crashing down at the unearthly hour.
As several panic-stricken workers wept and gathered around the rubbles, few of them ran to the St Thomas Police Station, a stone throw away, for help.
Rajiv Ranjan Kumar, one of the workers perched on the girder, said he jumped from 12 feet and found his site engineers missing. They ran away seconds after the girder hit the ground, he added. Worse, his safety engineer Vimal and supervisor Prajit were absent for the day. Swaraj Chaudhary, another inju-red worker, said the ambulance arrived around 5 am and the body was retrieved by 6 am with firemen’s support.  Mantoo Singh, friend of the deceased Dimple, said the accident was a disaster waiting to happen, for they were regularly pressurised and safety norms regularly overlooked to meet deadlines.
Curiously, L&T which executes the work at St Thomas Mount was ahead of its schedule elsewhere in the same CMRL project.