2 labourers death: NHRC issues notice to Madhya Pradesh govt

"It has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh calling for a detail report on the incident along with the steps being taken by the Government for the safety of the workers to avoid occurrence of such incidents. He has been given four weeks time to respond," the NHPC said in a statement.

"According to the media report published on the 30th May, 2016, one labourer Kalla Jatav was seriously injured when a portion of the chamber fell on him while working under a 30 feet deep sewage line project. His colleague Halke Valmiki also sustained grievous injury when he entered the chamber to help him. They were not provided any safety gears. Both the labourers were engaged by M/s Jain & Rai, Contractors for the Public Health Engineering Department of the Government of Madhya Pradesh," it said.

The report also carries a photograph showing one of the seriously injured workers being taken away by four locals to a hospital when no help came their way. Allegedly, there was no precaution regarding first aid, ambulance, etc at the site. The NDRF authorities were informed but did not reach on spot.

The fire fighting officers also could not help. Reportedly, a driver of a police control room vehicle refused to carry the injured to the hospital taking him as dead.

While issuing the notice, the Commission has said that it is in pain to know from the media report that workers were not provided with the proper safety gear by the contractor company. No timely medical help was made available to the badly injured labourers by the company.