Seven migrant labourers, including five from Madhya Pradesh were killed instantaneously on Thursday.
BENGALURU — Seven migrant labourers, including five from Madhya Pradesh were killed instantaneously on Thursday when a massive granite rock slid from the top and fell on them in a quarry in Bengaluru urban district, a senior police official said and blamed "negligence" for the fatal incident.
Initially, police sources had said majority of the victims hailed from Bihar but it was later clarified they were from Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, Yashwanthpur MLA and former Minister S T Somashekar had claimed that the fatalities from the incident rose to eight following the death of an injured person in the hospital.
However, Deputy Inspector General of Central Range S Girish clarified that only seven were killed and five wounded while four others working on the site escaped unhurt in the tragedy that took place at Madapattana in Bengaluru urban district just at the border with Bengaluru South district.
Besides the five victims from MP, one deceased hailed from Chhattisgarh and another was from Yadgir in Karnataka.
"There are two crushers here -- one is on the top and the second one is below. There was work going on at both the sites. There were about 16 labourers working there. A drilling machine was deployed on the top. A massive rock slid from the top and fell on the people working below. Seven people died on the spot," Girish told reporters here.
He added that the five injured are out of danger.
"It is very obvious that there was negligence due to which seven people lost their lives," he added.
Based on a complaint by a migrant labourer Gopikrishnan T (25), the Bengaluru South police registered a case against the quarry managers D Anandaswamy, Udayashankar, Pandu and Tirupathi.
Police have identified the deceased as Ramu, Rajpal Singh, Satyanarayan Singh, Ramavtar Singh, Dharmesh Singh, Rajesh Prasad Chaudhary and Bhuvaneshwari Singh Gond.
An official from Mines and Geology Department, Rangappa said the quarry owner has agreed to provide compensation to the next of kin of the deceased and the injured.
"I spoke to the quarry owner to get Rs 10 lakh compensation to the relatives of the deceased and Rs five lakh to the injured. He has agreed to it," Rangappa told reporters.
Mourning the demise of the labourers, Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, "We will issue fresh guidelines for quarrying activities across the state. I will ensure that no such incident occurs again."
He would examine whether quarrying activities were happening in the state as per the norms.
He said he had directed all officials to the spot, who would submit a detailed report on the incident.
"As per initial reports, seven people have died. The first report indicates that the incident was not due to blasting, but due to soil erosion. I will get a detailed report on this," the chief minister said.
When reporters asked him about the ex gratia, he said compensation is not the priority right now.
"We will certainly provide compensation to the families, there is no doubt about that. But my priority is to ensure that such incidents do not happen again in Karnataka," he said.
Later in the evening, Shivakumar visited the hospital and spoke to the injured.
He told reporters that the government is arranging to shift the bodies to their native place and will provide compensation to the victims.
"Besides compensation from the state government, our officials are speaking to the quarry owners to give them compensation from their side. We will also initiate legal action in this case," he added.
When asked about action against the mining department officials, he said he would hold a meeting on the mining plan on such cases, which will be applicable across the state.
On BJP's charges that illegal mining was rampant in the state, Shivakumar said the opposition party should back its allegation with evidence.
Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara said he will gather information, and if there is anything that pertains to the Revenue department, which is his portfolio, he would take immediate action.
"We need to find out who grants these sanctions. At present, it is the Deputy Commissioners and the officials of the Mining Department who grant them. We will examine the matter and take whatever action is necessary based on our findings," he said.
Expressing concerns over illegalities in quarrying taking place across the state, the deputy CM said he would do whatever is required to prevent it.
Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy alleged there was a "big lobby" working in the state which is more interested in making money than the safety of workers.
"The government should take stringent measures to prevent such incidents," he said.
Mourning the tragedy, the Leader of Opposition BJP in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka blamed the state government for its negligence and complete failure to implement safety regulations.
Ashoka, who met the injured in the hospital at Kengeri, posted on 'X' that the government has utterly failed in protecting workers' lives.
"I have appealed to the doctors to provide the best possible treatment to the injured, and I wish for them to recover swiftly. Justice must be served to the families of the deceased. Strict action must be taken against the culprits without any leniency," Ashoka said in his post.
A pall of gloom descended in the area due to the wails of the family members and friends of the victims and injured.
A relative of a victim from Yadgir told reporters that they shifted to Bengaluru to clear their debts after the marriage of their daughters.
With the death of the lone breadwinner, their future looks bleak.
The severity of the accident could be gauged from the fact that loading vehicles were completely mangled. A tractor on the site broke into pieces.