NOIDA : 35-year-old Pappu Singh lies in a hospital bed in Noida’s Sector 30, wondering if death would have been a better option. “At least my family would have received ₹5 lakh," he says.
His eyes well up. “I am damaged for life now...good for nothing...a liability for everybody." On the morning of 20 September, Singh was one of the 12 workers repairing a drain next to the boundary wall of Jal Vayu Vihar, a residential society in the city’s Sector 21.
Weakened by overnight rain, the wall collapsed on them. Four workers, including three from Singh’s Vicholna village in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh, died on the spot.
Singh suffered a fracture on his right thigh and was operated upon on 26 September. The district authorities announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh for the deceased but besides the free medical treatment, Singh gets little else. “Please do something for me.