Gurdaspur, February 26
Pawan Kumar, the sole breadwinner of a poor family, from Tibber village, near here, was buried under a huge mass of earth at the construction site of a micro-hydel project on the UBDC canal near Babaehali village.
Pawan Kumar has left behind a family having mother, 12-year-old brother and three unmarried sisters. Deep in sorrow, the family is in a quandary about their both ends meet.
The kin of Amrik Singh, another labourer of Babaehali village whose body was also recovered, alleged that no help had been extended to them. Neither the employer nor the district administration has announced any compensation for the victims.
Kin of the victims have threatened to move court against the contractor to get compensation.
Though the police has booked contractor Bhupinder Singh under Section 304 of the IPC, nothing has been confiscated to prove that Pawan Kumar or the other victims were working for the contractor.
Sources said despite the fact that the work was being carried under the supervision of the Department of Irrigation and PEDA, muster rolls were not available at the site.
This is going to make difficult for the kin of the victims to prove that they were working with the contractor.
No efforts were made today by any
organisation to locate more bodies. Neither the government nor employees of the contractor was available at the site. The sources said the rescue operation was carried out by locals.Survivors told mediapersons that 25 labourers were working at the site when the incident occurred. They apprehended that three labourers might still be buried in the debris.
However, none of the district administration officials was available for comments. The mobile phone of the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vivek Pratap Singh, was switched off, while the phone of the SSP was not answering.
