LAHORE: With yet another loss of life in the construction-related accident of the Orange Line Train project on Tuesday last, the total figure, according to official count, stands at 25.

The civil society, however, contests it and puts the figure at 41 – which makes it one of the most lethal construction projects in the country and raises questions about safety measures the officials are supposed to put in place for those working on it.

According to the LDA record, seven deaths resulted directly from construction-related activities in the last two years. Another four fatalities were caused by traffic accidents along the route caused by the construction activities. Seven more died when a wall collapsed on labourers and seven died when their residential camp caught fire.

Maryam Hussain, a civil society activist, contests the figure, claiming that “if one pieces together all newspaper reports, the total toll now stands at 41. Besides, there are 49 serious injuries maiming the victims for life. One also knows that all casualties are not reported. Only disastrous ones catch the media and political attention. So, one cannot rule out unreported deaths and injuries.”

Lawyer says he will move court after Eid

According to Advocate Azhar Siddique, who has been involved in many public interest litigations, he plans to move the Lahore High Court after Eid for stopping construction because the contractors, government agencies and regulators have failed to implement the safety standards.

“The government agencies had assured the court during a legal battle against the project that they would ensure safety standards and form monitoring committees to strictly implement them so that precious human lives are spared. Nothing has been done and human cost of the project is steadily increasing. In legal terminology, these deaths are considered as murders; you cannot put one in a hazardous situation without equipping him with safety gadgets and securing the workplace. If one does that, as is being done in this case, it can only be termed murder,” he said.

According to an LDA official, who did not want to be named due to sensitivity of the issue, the problem is not availability of safety gadgets but how to properly use these. “Every contractor or sub-contractor is strictly told to provide each and every required safety gadget and the security inspectors regularly monitor the situation. The trouble is illiterate and careless labourers don’t get used to wearing them. In scorching heat, they simply do not wear helmets and jackets. Even last Tuesday’s incident, which led to one death and five people injured, was the result of a lack of compliance of machine usage rules. In a crane designed for four persons, six jumped on and caused the collapse. Even one death is intolerable; the project-related activities have caused 25 so far. Nothing justifies that kind of damage and all agencies involved in ensuring safety, the LDA included, need to be taken to task,” he conceded.

Dr Ahmad Raza of the Rescue 1122, who has been involved in training the labourers for safety, supports the LDA version, saying: “All those working on the projects are trained in safety precautions but usage is the problem. We need to work on behavioral change, so that a culture of precaution permeates among all – contractor, labourers and all others concerned with safety. Many gaps were bridged during trainings but certainly more needs to be done in order to avoid this human loss.”

Maryam Hussain does not agree. She insists that the official agencies are shirking the responsibility by deflecting the blame on labourers for “being careless.” According to the law and commitments before the court, the official agencies are supposed to ensure “secure environment at workplace and residences they provide.” They are failing in both. “Can a dead person be held responsible for his own death unless it is a case of suicide... this is callousness at its worst,” she laments and wonders: “The civil society is really at loss to understand why courts have not taken notice so far. Human lives are being exposed to hazards in the name of development.”

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2017