MARGAO
The death of a 22-year-old labourer in the Ammonia gas tragedy in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate in the wee hours of Friday has thrown up a host of questions for the authorities, including the Labour Commissioner, Industrial Development Corporation, fire department and police, to answer.
Hours after the gas leakage in one factory resulted in the death of a worker in an adjoining unit, questions are asked whether workers can be permitted to stay put in temporary sheds and rooms erected within the factory premises.
That hundreds, if not thousands of workers in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate, are reportedly staying within the premises of industrial unit in rooms or makeshift sheds, has thrown up questions whether the IDC, office of Labour Commissioner and the police are aware of the ground reality.
When this question was posed to the Labour Commissioner Raju Gawas soon after the incident, he said the IDC should take cognizance of the matter.
He, however, assured to call for a report from labour officials on Friday’s incident to find out whether the labourer who succumbed to Ammonia gas leakage was putting up in makeshift accommodation outside the unit. “If required I will go for an inspection to ascertain the ground reality,” Gawas assured.
Hours after the tragedy struck, one could see a group of labourers moving out of the unit with their personal belongings, throwing up questions whether they were being evacuated to safety or told to move to alternate accommodation.
It could not be ascertained whether the Cuncolim police have conducted a panchanama of the place where the deceased and injured labourers were putting up in the tool manufacturing unit.
While the workers, who were all along putting up in the rooms have moved to safety, police panchanama would help prove that the labourers were staying on the premises of the unit.
The question of large scale accommodation of industrial labourers inside the estate had come to the fore in the recent past when incidents of blasts and explosions had rocked the units.
