Four sleeping labourers were reportedly killed and five others were injured after a speeding bus driven by a drunk driver rammed into shanties at the Verna Industrial Estate late Saturday night. It is learnt that the labourers were brought to Goa to undertake pavement and gutter work by the contractor appointed by the Public Works Department (PWD). While the driver of the bus has been booked for drunken driving, it is learnt that the government has decided to blacklist the contractor and subcontractor who have reportedly been arrested. Be that as it may, it is a fact that several labourers from different states across the country are employed by the contractors for various works across the state. It is the duty of the contractor, who employed these labourers, to provide them with proper accommodation till the contract period is over. It must be said that the pavement is no place to put up temporary shanties to accommodate the labourers. All such illegal shanties need to be razed to the ground. In absence of proper dwellings, these people carry out day-to-day activities such as cooking, bathing, washing clothes, on the pavement. This needs to stop.
