Trade union members and workers staging a protest at the Hindustan Shipyard Limited in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGMENT

In a freak accident, a contract worker of the Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) died on Tuesday evening. The worker has been identified as G. Appala Reddy (50), a resident of Pilakavanipalem.

The accident occurred when a ship was being pulled towards the dock. A capstan, a vertically-axled rotating machine used for winding a rope or cable while pulling ships towards dock, got ripped off its fixed position and struck the employee.

The heavy piece of metal would have hit the employee with a great force. He died even before he could be taken to a hospital, said Kumarmangalam of the CITU (HSL).

On Wednesday morning, the employees staged a dharna at the gate of the HSL and demanded compensation for the death. The trade union members and workers did not even allow the remaining workers to enter the premises.

Till late in the evening, the union members and workers did not allow the authorities concerned to take the body for post-mortem. The body was kept in the dispensary in HSL Colony.

The police had to intervene to ensure that there was no untoward incident.

In a meeting with the management, the unions demanded that the family of the deceased be paid ₹50 lakh and the next of kin be provided with a permanent job.

According to Mr. Kumarmangalam, the talks remained inconclusive till the evening “The HSL management was keen on paying only ₹10 lakh as compensation and providing fixed-time scale employment, to which we did not agree,” he said.

In August 2020, 11 persons died on the spot when a jetty-level luffing 70 MT crane that was being erected collapsed and fell on the workers at the shipyard.

The HSL management, which comes under the purview of the Union Ministry of Defence, has still not made public the enquiry report of the accident, said CPI(M) State secretariat member Ch. Narasinga Rao.

A case have been registered at Malkapuram police station and investigation is on.

In a late night development, the HSL management agreed to pay an ex gratia of ₹15 lakh to the family of Appala Reddy, part from permanent employment to the next of kin. After the decision, the workers allowed the police to shift the body of Appala Reddy for post-mortem.

The management also agreed to provide permanent employment to Lalitha Kumari, wife of K. Sattiraju, who died in the crane accident in August 2020.

The discussions with the management was held by BJP MLC P.V.N. Madhav, CITU State secretary M. Jaggu Naidu, YSRCP West constituency in-charge Anand Babu, K.M. Kumarmangalam, M.V. Ramana Murthy and B. Chunti Babu of the HSL Employees’ Union.

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Printable version | Aug 10, 2022 6:56:30 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/andhra-pradesh-contract-worker-dies-in-accident-at-hsl/article65661911.ece