Written by: Express News Service
3 min readNew DelhiNov 20, 2013 12:36 AM IST
First published on: Nov 20, 2013 at 12:36 AM IST
The Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) has been asked by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) to pay Rs 81 lakh compensation to the families of two employees who died after their fire tender overturned during a time-test drill. The tribunal held DIAL responsible for failing to provide proper infrastructure at the site during the drill.
The families of Ashok Chand Verma (senior coordinator) and Nidhish Yadav (junior assistant) were awarded Rs 51.49 lakh and Rs 29.51 lakh,respectively,as compensation. However,they will only receive 43.56 lakh and Rs 22.4 lakh,respectively,as the tribunal deducted 10 per cent of the total compensation citing negligence on the part of the employees who had died.
The tribunal held that the men were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the incident. It also noted that the two families had already received some compensation under DIAL’s Workmen Compensation Act. The present compensation is to be paid by National Insurance Company Ltd,with which the fire tender was insured.
The accident took place on May 29,2009,during a fire safety drill. DIAL’s Airside Management Department had asked a team of five members to reach a particular spot in the airport within 90 seconds in a fire tender to test their preparedness in the event of an aircraft catching fire.
Yadav was driving the fire tender and Verma was seated next to him. During the drill,Yadav lost control of the vehicle after a sudden flash of light and it crashed into a drain near the runway.
The tribunal noted that according to two eyewitnesses,who were also aboard the fire tender at the time of the incident,the accident was not caused due to “negligence of the driver (Yadav) but due to the failure of DIAL to ensure proper light at the site and for want of anti-glare windscreen on the fire tender or anti-glare glasses for the driver”.
MACT Presiding Officer Arun Bhardwaj noted that had there been proper light or anti-glare windscreen on the vehicle or anti-glare glasses for the driver,then Yadav wouldn’t have been blinded by a sudden flash of light.
Verma,who was 54 years old at the time of the accident,lived in Mahipalpur Extension and his earnings were Rs 6.8 lakh per annum,while 31-year-old Yadav lived in Raj Nagar Palam and had an annual salary of Rs 1.8 lakh.
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