A youth was seriously injured after an iron rod allegedly fell from the under-construction Mumbai Metro Line 12 site in Kalyan East and struck him while he was travelling as a pillion rider on a motorcycle, prompting a police investigation into safety arrangements at the construction site.
The injured man, identified as Abdul Haq, was travelling with his friend, Hitanshu, from Kalyan East towards Ulhasnagar when the rod fell on his head. The incident took place on the stretch between APMC Market and Bail Bazaar, where work on the elevated metro corridor is under way.
Haq was initially taken to Meera Hospital by relatives and was later shifted to Fortis Hospital. He is currently in the intensive care unit, according to information reported by the Times of India. The report did not provide details of the rod’s dimensions or the precise activity under way at the site when it fell.
The incident has raised concerns about how construction materials and work zones are being secured above roads used by motorists and pedestrians. Elevated metro projects typically require active protection for traffic and public areas below construction zones, but the material supplied for this report does not establish which specific safety measure may have failed in this case.
Senior inspector Baliramsingh Pardeshi of Mahatma Phule police station said police would record Haq’s statement and conduct further investigation. The inquiry is expected to establish the sequence of events, the responsibility for the construction activity and whether required precautions were in place at the location.
Residents have demanded an inquiry and strict action against anyone found responsible for negligence. The immediate impact has fallen on a road user who was not involved in the construction work but was travelling along a route beneath or adjacent to the active project site.
Metro Line 12 is planned to connect Kalyan with Taloja and is currently under construction. The latest incident has also brought earlier construction-related accidents in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region back into focus. In February this year, an autorickshaw driver was killed after a concrete parapet slab fell from the under-construction Metro Line 4 in Mulund, according to the report. In Bhiwandi last year, a 20-year-old autorickshaw passenger, identified as Sonu Ali, was seriously injured after a seven-to-eight-foot-long iron rod fell from an under-construction Metro Line 5 site and pierced his head.
The police investigation into the Kalyan East incident will now determine the circumstances behind the rod fall and whether any negligence occurred. The next immediate step is the recording of Haq’s statement, subject to his medical condition.
