PANAJI
Tragedy struck at Ribandar early Monday morning where excavation of the road commenced to begin the 'Smart City' work at Ribandar when a labourer who had got trapped under mud and rubble in a trench died.
The victim was identified as Angadh Pandit.
The incident occurred between 8-10 am near the Ribandar-Divar ferry wharf at Panvel and according to one eyewitness account the worker fell into the trench and the excavated mud and rubble began collapsing over him.
Old Goa fire station in-charge Ganesh Gaonkar rushed to the area along with his team and launched a rescue operation for almost two hours.
"We handed him over to the ambulance staff. We are not sure if he was alive when we removed him," Gaonkar said, adding that they faced a challenge to remove him from under the debris as the mud was sticky and was collapsing further.
An excavator was used in the operation by the team of fire-fighters from the Old Goa fire station, Gaonkar said.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao slammed Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) and the contractor for ignoring measures for worker safety while executing projects of the 'smart city'.
"The unfortunate death of worker doing Smart City work exposes negligence on safety of labourers by IPSCDL. Strict action needs to be taken against the contractor and officials responsible for snatching away an innocent life," Alemao said, adding that the government must pay compensation to the family of the victim and the other worker who was injured.
