NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which serves as a lifeline for millions of people in Delhi-NCR, has claimed 156 lives in the process to reach that spot.
As per an RTI activist filed by Zeeshan Haider, since 2002 till last year, 156 people working at DMRC died due to mishaps during construction. A separate data also reveals that in the same time period, 198 accidents killed 118 people, who were not involved in the construction of the Metro Rail.
The data also reveals that 103 workers were injured in the construction work as well in the same time period.
“To increase efficiency and the accuracy, DMRC many times ignores rules under the Labour Law, increasing pressure on the employees. Most employees are overburdened,” said a member of the Staff Council, which was constituted to take care of employees’ complaints and grievances.
“We at DMRC follow international norms of safety while construction. Any death is unfortunate, but fatalities do take place. Each case is investiged. It is needless to say that we take care of our staff,” said Anuj Dayal Chief, public relations officer, DMRC.
Former DMRC employee Vinod Saha , who is fighting a case of employee harassment at Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), was allegedly shunted out for raising his voice against corrupt malpractices. “Delhi Metro looks nice from the outside but from inside, its officers are immensely corrupt and the lower level employees are treated like bonded labour,” said Saha, who headed DMRC’s RTI cell for two years before being terminated in June 2016.