PUDUCHERRY: A worker died while working on a cellphone tower at Bussy Street on Wednesday. Police said Murugan (32) from Naduvanthur in Tindivanum Taluk reportedly suffered electric shock and collapsed. His co-worker who tried to pull him also suffered a shock and he kept off.
Murugan was taken to the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Post Graduate Institute, where the doctors declared him brought dead.
Odiansalai Police registered a case of causing death by negligence under IPC Section 304 (A) against the supervisor and the contractor. Action would be taken after the post-mortem report comes out, said Inspector Veeravallavan.
This brings to fore the safety of cellphone tower workers, who build and maintain networks. Last year on September 4, a technician Barani (30) died while working on a tower near Pothy’s Showroom. Another team of technicians had a narrow escape on February 13 this year, when there was massive fire on a tower at Mahatma Gandhi Street after they had serviced the equipment and left.
The safety of everyone, who works on cellphone network, is a top priority for the employer and contractors are said to have one person at every job site, who is responsible for making sure safety procedures were being followed, said A Veeraragavan, Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee member. However, there is no enforcement of compliance by the authorities, regretted Veeraragavan.
Murugan is survived by wife and two sons.