Violence over death of construction worker in AP

Amaravati, May 10: After accidental death of a 21-year-old worker this morning, his fellow labourers started an agitation, pelted stones at police and set an ambulance on fire, at the construction site of the transitional headquarters of Andhra Pradesh government here.

The agitators also demanded due compensation for the deceased.The construction activity came to a standstill at Velagapudi village in the capital region Amaravati following the accidental death of Devender, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, at one of the blocks being built by L&T, police said.

Following which, irate workers pelted stones at the police team present there, torched an ambulance and damaged furniture inside the security cabin of L&T, the main contractor executing the project, they said. Guntur district Joint Collector Cherukuri Sridhar rushed to the scene, held talks with the agitating workers and brought peace by promising a total ex-gratia payment of Rs 20 lakh to the deceased worker's family.

Devender had joined work at the site only two days back and was engaged as a helper on the concrete mixer vehicle.

He was employed by a sub-contractor and not directly by L&T. After the mixing process was completed, he was cleaning the vehicle when suddenly the rotor went on. As he tried to peep in, Devender got stuck inside and killed.

He was not wearing any protective gear at the time of the mishap. As police tried to shift the body to hospital for a post-mortem, the fellow workers pelted stones at the police.

They also set the ambulance, belonging to the contractor, on fire, besides damaging some other vehicles parked there.

The workers engaged in the construction of other blocks at the site also struck work following the incident and demanded that a compensation of Rs 25 lakh be paid. The Joint Collector rushed to the scene and held talks with the workers following which they agreed to a compensation of Rs 20 lakh.

PTI