Iron rods pierce car near Delhi-Noida border
This year, in the national capital, eight road accidents were caused because of negligence at construction sites. In 2018, 12 such accidents were reported.
On Wednesday around 12.30 pm when Rabiul Islam was driving through Noida Sector 15-A, near the Delhi-Noida border, two iron rods pierced his car. They had fallen from a hoarding that was being installed there.
“I don’t exactly know from where the rods fell, but I applied the brakes on time and managed to escape. The workers are now saying that they were crossing the road with the rods, but this is a clear case of negligence by the construction agency,” Islam said.
He added that though thousands of vehicles cross the stretch from Delhi and Noida, no signage was placed around the site to warn commuters of the installation activities.
This year, in the national capital, eight road accidents were caused because of negligence at construction sites. In 2018, 12 such accidents were reported.
In one of the accidents that took place in February this year, which was also reported from the Delhi-Noida border (near Delhi-Noida-Direct Flyway), two people lost their lives.
Delhi police officers said that strict instructions are given to the construction agencies to follow safety norms, including “site under construction” or “men at work” signage displayed with reflector tapes starting at least 100 metres before the site and barricading the area around the construction area.
“With all government infrastructure projects we ensure that regular site inspections are carried, but the difficulty arises with spotting private projects. Many private advertisement agencies often indulge in changes flex boards and hoardings installed along busy arterial roads,” said a senior Delhi traffic police official.
Transport and road safety experts said that the government needs to come up with safety guidelines for construction sites to safeguard both workers and general public.
Although there are rules for large under-construction infrastructure projects, there are no safety requirements for small-scale maintenance work that could pose a greater risk for public, experts said.
“For large projects managed by government agencies any violation on safety guidelines automatically come into notice but even for maintenance work such as flyover repairs, road laying, street light installation and repairs some safety practice needs to be put in place. Not just road accidents, so many instances of electrocution and poles falling have been reported in the city in the past,” said Sushant Tiwari, co-founder of road safety NGO Safety First.