The government has filed 768 cases under the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Act (Regulation of Employment & Service Condition), 1996 along with 118 criminal cases in judicial magistrate courts, for violation of safety provisions at various construction sites across Gujarat. The state government said this in its appraisal report submitted to the Supreme Court regarding the implementation of the Act in Gujarat.

V N Patel, Director, Industrial Health and Hygiene, Government of Gujarat, said: “Gujarat is probably the only state in the country that has filed criminal cases against construction companies. The reason: all our site inspectors are trained engineers who have the requisite knowledge of safety measures to be adopted at construction sites, unlike other states.”

Giving details of the criminal cases, officials added that the maximum number of criminals cases, 47 out of 118, have been filed against construction companies for starting work without mandatory prior safety inspection by authorities.

Patel said that criminal cases also include 19 cases for violations in deep trench works, 16 for not informing authorities about accidents and 12 cases for not having the mandatory safety net in place where work is carried out at a height. Vipul Pandya, general secretary of the Bandhkam Mazdoor Sangathan, a construction labourers’ union, supported the government’s claims.

He added: “It is true that these cases have been registered, but the government needs to do more. Many times they get to know about the accidents based on our reports.”

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