A 44-year-old man who was in a team erecting the Durga Puja pandal of a popular south Calcutta puja fell 28ft to the ground while trying to tie a bamboo pole on Monday afternoon. He was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

His death highlighted the unsafe conditions in which thousands of informal workers engaged in the construction of pandals often work for the biggest festival of Bengal, during which puja committees spend crores of rupees to woo visitors.

Members of multiple Durga Puja committees and those working in other puja pandals told The Telegraph that safety belts or harnesses are rarely used during the construction of pandals, including the tall ones. The risk of falling remains high in all such cases.

Adwaita Hatua, 44, had climbed to the top of the Hindustan Park Sarbojonin pandal — 28ft from the ground — when he fell, said a co-worker.

Seven others were in the team and none was wearing a safety belt or a helmet, said the
workman.

Sutapa Das, the secretary of Hindustan Park Sarbojanin Durgotsab Committee, said it was not raining when Hatua fell around 12.30pm. “We took him to Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan, where doctors declared him dead on arrival,” she said.

“He was an experienced hand and everyone was surprised how he fell.”

Das, who is also a member of the executive council of the Forum for Durgotsab, an association of Durga Puja organisers in the city, said she would raise the issue of safety protocols for workers in the forum.

This newspaper spoke with workers engaged in the construction of the pandal at Deshapriya Park. The pandal is already over 40ft tall and will rise another 30ft.

“We do not wear harnesses or helmets. Usually, the contractors or the organising committees give harnesses when we start erecting pandals taller than 40ft or 50ft. I know it is for our safety,” said Bapi Das, one of the men working on the pandal.

This newspaper also found pandal workers in north Calcutta’s Chorebagan working without helmets and harnesses.

The police have drawn up a case of unnatural death for Hatua’ death. “We have not received any complaint. We have started a case of unnatural death. Preliminary investigations suggest there was no foul play,” said an officer of Kolkata Police’s south-east division.

“There is a general advisory that anyone working at a height should follow certain measures, such as wearing a harness or a helmet,” said the officer.

An engineer at a private construction company said a full-body harness has a hook at the end of the rope. “Even if the person slips, he keeps hanging,” said the engineer. A full-body harness, he said, costs about Rs 850.

Partha Pratim Chakraborty, a professor of construction engineering at Jadavpur University, said there are specific guidelines on safety measures to be adopted during the construction of temporary structures that Puja committees and the government can look into.

The lack of safety measures for people working at a height much above the ground is commonplace. Very few builders provide harnesses to construction workers in
this city.

Achin Chakraborty, a professor of economics at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, said informal workers mostly bargain for wages and rarely speak up for non-wage issues such as safety measures.

“In every sector, the employers know that informal workers will do anything for the wage. There has to be a united push for their rights. The state government, which is giving grants to the Durga Puja committees, can make it conditional that grants will be given only if the safety of workers is ensured,” he said.