The body of Lakshmanan, the sanitary worker who fell into Bharathapuzha River at Shoranur from the Ernakulam Bridge on Saturday was retrieved late Sunday evening by the scuba divers deployed by the Fire Brigade. With this, bodies of all the four sanitary workers engaged by the private contractor to clean the tracks have been retrieved.
According to a media release by Southern Railway, steps were on to initiate legal proceedings against the private contractor based at Malappuram for throwing to the winds the security protocol which resulted in the mishap. The Railways was in the dark about the contractor shepherding the workers over the bridge despite the fact that there was no work allocated to clean this stretch.
Three workers in the group were ran over by the speeding New Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram Super Fast Express at 3 pm on Saturday while the fourth person jumped into the river to save himself from the train.
According to a release by Southern Railway, actions have been initiated to terminate the contract and a criminal case is being filed against the contractor for failing to ensure the safety of the workers. The workers were in the dark about the arrival of the super-fast Kerala Express and they were left clueless about what to do to escape to safety.
But Kerala minister for sports Abdul Rehman has come out demanding a thorough probe before any action is taken against the contractor M/s Munawar Thonikkadavat with its head quarters at Malappuram.
