Reports

Reposted from IIT Kanpur Citizens’ Forum.

A cryptic communique from the Institute authorities on 23^rd October 2023 informed the community that a construction worker named Mr. Shankar had died the day before. It had no other details about the cause of death or the deceased. And there is a serious reason to believe that the communique did not even get the day of the accident correct. We at Hamara Manch tried to collect some basic details about the accident, work conditions at the Hall 14 construction site, and the protocols followed in case a mishap occurs. But the complete lack of transparency as to who is the accountable authority and the extreme secrecy, which everyone is expected to maintain, makes it very difficult to get even the basic facts. We share here the facts which we were able to crosscheck from multiple sources. But this report is not merely to share the untimely and tragic loss of the life of a young person, as it is not an isolated incident. This is the third fatality of a worker in IIT Kanpur in the last 22 months that we at Hamara Manch are aware of. And there seems to be a pattern of serious lapses which should be of grave concern to all of us. Incidentally, the earlier deaths did not even merit a communique from the Institute, and the only documentation is that which was done by Hamara Manch.