Supervisor booked for death of labourers

The Kanjurmarg police on Monday arrested the site supervisor of Chennai-based firm Shriram EPC and booked him for alleged negligence after three workers fell to their deaths into a choked sewage drain near the service road between Bhandup and Kanjurmarg on the Eastern Express Highway on Sunday morning. They were cleaning the drain for BMC.

The accused has been identified as Shivanand Chavan, 37. According to the police, on Sunday, seven labourers hired by the company got into the drain to clean it. Three of them died after they experienced uneasiness and breathlessness, allegedly after inhaling the poisonous gas inside.

A senior civic official said the work undertaken to put a pipeline was a continuous one and no special permission from BMC was required. "However, the work is usually carried out from the top of a manhole and workers are not supposed to go in. However, these men went inside, which was incorrect," he added.

Senior inspector Nishikant Tungare said, "There was clear negligence on part of the supervisor as there was no proper safety gear provided to the labourers."