TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PONDA: Two workers from Jharkhand died when a JCB fell into a stone quarry filled with rainwater at Dharbandora on Wednesday evening.
According to reports, the JCB was reportedly refilling the stone quarry at about 4.30 pm on Wednesday when the vehicle lost its balance and fell into the quarry.
The JCB operator reportedly fled from the site soon after the incident, while Stephen Joseph Ekka (22) and Virendra Gope (21) were trapped in the quarry.
The body of Gope was removed by the other workers at the site barely minutes after the incident took place. The body of Ekka, which was trapped under the JCB, was recovered at about 4 pm on Thursday, when a crane and another JCB were pressed into service to lift the ill-fated JCB.
Both bodies have been sent to GMC hospital for a post-mortem.
Dharbandora Deputy Collector Sagun Velip, Mamlatdar Satish Prabhu, Dharbandora Sarpanch Guru Gaonkar and Ponda PI C L Patil were also present at the site to take stock of the incident.
Meanwhile, Ponda Police have booked an offence against the contractor and the JCB operator for negligence.
It was not clear why Ponda Police were not informed when the incident occurred on Wednesday. “We will conduct inquiry into this aspect. The police were informed about the incident only on Thursday morning. The contractor and the unidentified JCB operator have been booked for negligence,” informed PI Patil.
The owner of the property, who was also at the site, said the work to refill the stone quarry was being carried out at the site through a contractor, following directives of the Dharbandora mamlatdar.
“Stone quarry operations are shut and we had undertaken the job to refill a number of stone quarries. A contractor was given the task to refill this area. I don’t know how this incident occurred and I was informed about the accident on Thursday morning,” informed Mahesh Shetye.
On the contrary, villagers claimed that the stone quarry operation was in progress on Thursday and labourers had shifted soon after the incident.
“Work on this quarry was going on till Wednesday. We have been demanding a to stop these stone quarries since the last couple of years and several complaints were made to the authorities concerned, but to no use,” said Mohidas Naik of Dhulai.
“There are several stone quarries in this property and has risked life of residents, especially the school children as the stone quarries are filled with water during rains,” claimed Naik.
Interestingly, Dharbandora Deputy Collector Sagun Velip said he was unaware about the complaints.
“I don’t think there were any complaints as there are no houses in the vicinity. Stone quarry operations were stopped as they were illegal and the property owner was asked to refill the site,” Velip said.
