Workers at the site of construction for the new capital region of Andhra Pradesh here turned violent today following the death of a fellow-labourer from Uttar Pradesh, pelting stones at police and torching an ambulance.
The protesting workers were demanding due compensation for the kin of the deceased.
Work came to a halt at Velagapudi village in the capital region Amaravati after 21-year-old Devender, a migrant worker from UP, got stuck in a concrete-mixer and got killed at one of the blocks, police said.
The irate workers threw stones at the police team present, torched an ambulance and ransacked the security cabin of L&T , the contract company executing the project.
Guntur district Joint Collector Cherukuri Sridhar, who rushed to the site, held talks with the agitating workers and brought the situation under control by promising a total ex-gratia of Rs 20 lakh to the family of the deceased.
Devender, employed by a sub-contractor as a helper on the concrete mixer, had come to the site just two days back.
He got stuck in the concrete mixer and got killed while cleaning the vehicle when suddenly its rotor started rotating. He was not wearing protective gear at the time of the mishap.
As police tried to shift the body to a nearby hospital for post mortem, the fellow workers pelted stones at them.
They also set on fire an ambulance belonging to the contractor and damaged some other vehicles parked there.
The labourers from other blocks also joined the protest and struck work, demanding a compensation of Rs 25 lakh for the family of the deceased.
The Joint Collector held talks with the workers, following which they agreed for a compensation of Rs 20 lakh.
"The Labour Department of the state government will pay Rs 5.2 lakh, while L&T will pay Rs 6 lakh. A sum of Rs 8.8 lakh will come as insurance for the worker," the official told PTI.
"An inquiry by the Deputy Commissioner of Labour has been ordered into the incident. He will also look into the safety aspects and facilities for workers at the site and suggest measures to avoid such accidents," he said.
This was the second death at the site, after a worker, also engaged by a sub-contractor, died in a freak mishap at another block last month.
In all, six blocks are being built at Velagapudi for the transitional headquarters.
With the state government setting June 15 as the deadline for the contractors to complete the works, the construction activity has been going on round-the-clock since February with thousands of labourers, mostly from other states, being brought in.
