HYDERABAD: They were the sole breadwinners of their families. Now, these construction workers, a youngster and two men, are bedridden and would take around a year to recover from the fractures they sustained when an unauthorised under-construction arch collapsed recently at the gated community in CB-CID Colony in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
More than the physical trauma, the question of how would they be able to support their families bears down heavily on them. Doctors have said they would not be able to take up heavy work for a livelihood anymore.
In the accident which rendered them bedridden, three labourers lost their lives and five were injured. While two of the injured were discharged, three others, Botla Veeranjaneyulu (22), V Ramana (45) and Umesh Yadav (40), are under going treatment for fractures at a private hospital in Kukatpally.
When Express spoke to an injured, the 22-year-old youngster said that no one except the builder had come to meet him after a downpour of people and politicians on the day of accident.
Laying on hospital bed with orthopedic cast around his thigh, Veeranjaneyulu said, “When my mother spoke to the builder Ranga Babu, he got annoyed at her and my father. I used to work under master-workman, Diwakarn and on asking him why he was not visiting me, he said that cases had been registered against him and thus he could not meet me.”
Veeranjaneyulu shifted to Hyderabad from Guntur, AP, as there was no source of money for him there. He started to work as a construction labourer four-years ago.
“Now, my thigh bone is fractured. Doctors suggested six-months of bed rest and a year for the bone to heal. We should be given Rs 5 lakh as compensation, since I cannot do heavy work anymore. I am half dead because of the fracture. Even if I work, I would be able to earn only Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000,” he said.
In another cabin of the hospital, wife of 45-year-old Ramana’s, V Dhamayanthi, said that she had to take a loan of Rs 3,000 to meet daily expenses after her husband’s legs were fractured. Ramana used to earn as much as Rs 500 a day.
Umesh Yadav has a similar tale to narrate as he too was the sole breadwinner for his family of four. “My children should get educated. I need money to take care of the day-to-day expenses,” said Yadav, who is a native of Uttar Pradesh and has been staying in Hyderabad for long.
The three injured workers alleged that they were not given any safety equipment, such as helmets, while constructing the arch. The injured workers would be discharged on Monday.