Chennai: Neglecting workplace safety nearly proved fatal for eight people after a big piece of the Greater Chennai Corporation-maintained Duraisamy subway's parapet wall came crashing down on them in T Nagar on Monday.
The injured include seven labourers and an on-site supervisor working for a third party contractor engaged by the Greater Chennai Corporation to strengthen the subway's structure. The Rs 15 lakh project was set in motion by the local body a week ago, according to officials.
According to eyewitness accounts, the incident happened a little after 1 pm on Monday as workers attempted to demolish the parapet wall. Corporation sources said that the project was commissioned to increase the width of the service lane.
“The alteration would have also come in handy to execute our skywalk plans later,” said an official. “There is nothing wrong with the project per se because we only went ahead after it was vetted by a technical team from IIT-Madras,” a senior official said. However, despite the incident, no police case was booked and only a medico-legal investigation was undertaken, according to police sources.
