BENGALURU: Taking suo motu cognisance of the death of two children of a labourer in a fire accident at A Narayanapura in the city and of a boy in a leopard attack near MM Hills in Chamarajanagar district, Upa Lokayukta Justice KN Phaneendra has registered cases against those allegedly responsible for these incidents.
Quoting media reports of May 12 on the death of two children, the Upa Lokayukta said it was an unfortunate incident. According to reports, Arjun and Asha, the victims, died in the blaze at their shed. They lived in the shed with their parents and grandmother. The parents of the children, who are daily wage workers, were at a construction site when the incident took place. The owners of the land or the contractor did not provide basic facilities, including electricity, to the workers living in the sheds.
The Upa Lokayukta said that in this case, the right to life of a citizen has been violated. As per Section 43 of the Building and Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, the jurisdictional labour inspector should inspect the places of work to ascertain the safety of workers. When an employer fails to provide a safe environment to his workers and their families at the workplace or at the temporary place provided to them, it amounts to violation of the Act on his part. If the inspector fails to act in this regard, it amounts to dereliction of duty on his part, he added.
Justice Phaneendra registered a case against senior labour inspector Somashekara HM and assistant executive engineer Arpita of Horamavu Division of the East City Corporation. He directed them to give an explanation in person.
He marked a copy of the complaint to the Bengaluru Urban district in-charge minister for action.
Citing media reports of May 11 on the death of Harshithgowda in the leopard attack near Indiganattha village in MM Hills, Justice Phaneendra noted that the incident happened allegedly due to lack of safety measures and facilities for devotees visiting the temple at MM Hills.
According to reports, the forest department provides no facilities and protection though it collects Rs 200 from each devotee at the checkpost. This resulted in the death of three people, including the boy, in one year, he said.
He registered a case against assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Sandeep Kumar, MM Wildlife Sub-Division, ACF Mariswamy, Kaveri Wildlife Division, Hanur, deputy range forest officer Ramesh Biradar, MM Wildlife Division, and range forest officer Vagish, Kaveri Wildlife Division, Hanur.He passed orders to issue notice and summons to them to submit their response in person by June 17.