Lucknow: A labourer died and another was injured after a ‘retaining wall’ at an under-construction private hospital site collapsed in Vibhuti Khand, Gomtinagar, on Thursday morning.The accident occurred around 10am when excavation work for construction of the basement was underway alongside the laying of foundation of the building. A retaining wall was built to hold the soil in the surroundings. However, it collapsed leading to the cave-in of soil, trapping the two labourers under the debris.Police and fire brigade teams reached the spot and launched a rescue operation. Both the labourers were pulled out and taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Science hospital, where one was declared dead, while the other one was admitted for treatment.The deceased labourer was identified as Lakshmi Shankar Awasthi (35), a resident of Ramnagar in Barabanki. The condition of the second labourer, Tulsiram, was said to be stable.According to eyewitness and labour at the site, Sabir, “Tulsiram had climbed into the pit to dig while Lakshmi Shankar was lifting soil in a pan. When the soil suddenly caved in, both were buried. Coworkers removed the debris by hand and managed to clear Tulsiram’s face within minutes. Lakshmi, however, was trapped under more than 4ft of soil. Fire brigade teams arrived soon after, and it took about 45 minutes to pull him out.”Narendra, a labourer from Haidergarh, said a mason approached workers at the Chinhat labour stand on Thursday morning, saying he needed 10 men for concrete casting. The 10 labourers picked up included Sanjay, Nankau, Sabir, Tulsiram and Lakshmi Shankar.Officials of the Lucknow Development Authority inspected the site later. Additional secretary CP Tripathi said the building plan for plot D-63 had been approved.LDA zonal officer, Devansh Trivedi said, “During the inspection it was found that all the construction areas were as per the map and the owners have proper no-objection certificate for the basement excavation. However, we will reinspect the site and ensure such an unfortunate incident does not happen again.”The group of daily-wage labourers, however, alleged they were lured to the construction site on false assurances of routine work and later pressured to undertake unsafe excavation. Police said they are probing the allegations. The owner of the under-construction site remained unreachable despite several calls made to him for reaction.Lakshmi Shankar is survived by his mother, wife and six-month-old daughter.
