The Pune Municipal Corporation has begun the process of blacklisting contractor Shubham Ashok Khanode after 69-year-old Pradeep Pardeshi died following a fall into a drainage excavation at Chitra Chowk in Yerawada. The civic body has also stopped the contractor’s ongoing works at other locations in Pune and plans to withdraw them.
PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said a show-cause notice had been issued to Khanode, who is based in Sangamner in Ahilyanagar district. The contractor has been directed to submit a detailed explanation within 24 hours of receiving the notice. The PMC has also lodged a police complaint against him and ordered a detailed inquiry into the incident.
Pardeshi fell into a pit approximately 15 feet deep that had been excavated for laying a 900-mm-diameter sewer line at Chitra Chowk. The work was being carried out on behalf of the PMC. According to the civic body’s preliminary assessment, inadequate safety arrangements at the site may have contributed to the accident.
The safety provisions expected at the excavation included proper barricading, protective railings, warning signboards and adequate lighting. The use of fibre barricades instead of iron barricades has also been cited as a possible factor in the incident. The preliminary assessment does not establish the final cause of the death, which will be examined through the police and civic inquiries.
Ram said contractors were responsible for taking necessary safety precautions after being awarded municipal work and were required to submit an undertaking regarding safety measures. “The concerned contractor is being proceeded against for failing to take the required precautions. The PMC will also inspect ongoing works at other locations across the city,” he said.
The civic administration has separately sought information about the circumstances in which Pardeshi was discharged from Rajiv Gandhi Hospital after the accident and how he died later that night. Ram said the police had been asked to examine the matter. The inquiry will also consider whether there was any fault on the part of the vehicle driver or the deceased, if applicable.
The PMC’s action places safety compliance at active excavation sites under scrutiny, particularly where deep pits are opened in locations used by pedestrians and vehicles. The municipal corporation has said that any alleged lapse in safety arrangements at the Yerawada drainage work site cannot be overlooked, even as the broader circumstances surrounding the death remain under investigation.
The contractor’s response to the show-cause notice, the police inquiry and the PMC’s inspection of other ongoing works are the next official steps in the case.
