Noida lift crash: Last surviving worker dies in hospital, death toll 9
Noida (PTI): The last surviving member of a team of construction workers injured in the lift crash at the Amrapali Dream Valley in Noida Extension died on Saturday after battling for life for eight days, police officials said.
There were nine workers on the service lift which crashed from the 14th floor of an under-construction tower at the project in the morning of September 15. State-run NBCC is completing the mega housing project started in 2011 by the now-beleaguered Amrapali Group under Supreme Court monitoring.
While four workers had died after the lift crash on September 15 itself, another four succumbed during treatment at the district hospital in Noida the next day, the officials said.
"Mohd Kaif, 20, a native of Meerut district, was admitted to the hospital in an injured condition. He died in the hospital on Saturday. The postmortem is being carried out and legal procedures are underway," a police spokesperson said.
According to a hospital official, Kaif passed away around 1 am on Saturday and the body has been handed over to his family.
He was on ventilator support since hospitalization as the body was not supporting respiration while his brain had also stopped working, the official said.
An FIR in connection with the lift crash was lodged at the local Bisrakh police station under IPC sections for negligence with respect to machinery and for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among other charges.
Four officials of Girdhari Construction private limited, hired by NBCC, have been already arrested by the police, which have prima facie found that the service lift was operated negligently despite rain in the early hours of September 15, according to officials.
A financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh has been extended to the families of the eight dead workers, DM Manish Verma told PTI last week, while the local Greater Noida Authority, the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration and the NBCC have launched separate inquiries into the matter.
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Unruly scenes witnessed in Punjab Assembly
Chandigarh (PTI): The Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed high drama on Friday after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira made an allegedly objectionable remark against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during an intense argument over the alleged use of mobile phone in the house by the legislator.
During the one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Mann accused Khaira of using a mobile phone when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was reading out an official resolution on the revision of wages.
After rising from his seat, the chief minister pointed to the speaker, claiming that Khaira is busy on his mobile phone and urged him to ask the Congress MLA what Sandhwan had said about the resolution.
The speaker then asked Khaira to maintain order in the house and listen to the resolution carefully.
Mann then asked Khaira, "Why don't you go out and then use it (mobile phone)," which led to a strong verbal altercation during which the opposition MLA hurled an accusation against the chief minister. Meanwhile, the speaker appealed for order and insisted that the chair be addressed.
However, both Mann and Khaira continued arguing and could be seen pointing fingers at each other as the proceedings of the house were disrupted.
The AAP MLAs also rose from their seats with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemning Khaira for his conduct and demanded action against him.
Cheema further alleged that Khaira "always tries to disturb the house" as he spoke about his conduct in the assembly.
The incident occurred as an official resolution on the revision of wages was presented at the special session by Labour Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond who said it paid homage to labourers on the International Workers' Day.
"Workers are the axis of construction of the nation, the community, the state and society. Every construction project succeeds only through their blood and sweat," the resolution read.
As per the resolution, "The base rate of minimum wages for the working class in Punjab was last revised in the year 2012. Although the dearness allowance has continued to increase since 2012, there has been no increase in the base rate of minimum wages.
On this sacred occasion of May Day, in this special session of the legislative assembly, this house proposes to revise and increase the minimum wages of labourers and strongly recommends to the government to take a decision regarding the increase of minimum wages for workers, so that the contributions of the workers can be acknowledged." PRK
