Workers at the site of construction for the new capital region of Andhra Pradesh here turned violent on Tuesday, following the death of a fellow-labourer from Uttar Pradesh, pelting stones at police and torching an ambulance.
The protesting workers were demanding due compensation for the kin of the deceased. Work came to a halt at Velagapudi village in the capital region Amaravati after 21-year-old Devender, a migrant worker from UP, got stuck in a concrete-mixer and got killed at one of the blocks, police said.
The irate workers threw stones at the police team present, torched an ambulance and ransacked the security cabin of L&T , the contract company executing the project.
Guntur district Joint Collector Cherukuri Sridhar, who rushed to the site, held talks with the agitating workers and brought the situation under control by promising a total ex-gratia of Rs 20 lakh to the family of the deceased. Devender, employed by a sub-contractor as a helper on the concrete mixer, had come to the site just two days back.
He got stuck in the concrete mixer and got killed while cleaning the vehicle when suddenly its rotor started rotating. He was not wearing protective gear at the time of the mishap. As police tried to shift the body to a nearby hospital for post mortem, the fellow workers pelted stones at them.
They also set on fire an ambulance belonging to the contractor and damaged some other vehicles parked there. The labourers from other blocks also joined the protest and struck work, demanding a compensation of Rs 25 lakh for the family of the deceased.