The plant of Bokaro Power Supply Company Limited. Picture by Pankaj Singh

A 37-year-old contract labourer fell to his death at a construction site within the Bokaro steel plant premises on Tuesday.

Kameshwar Manjhi was employed by private contractor Luthra Engineering, which is executing the modernisation work taken up by Bokaro Power Supply Company Limited (BPSCL), a joint venture of Bokaro steel plant and Damodar Valley Corporation.

The incident occurred around 1pm, when Manjhi was working at the site where a boiler is being constructed. He was standing at a height of 66 feet, when he lost his footing and fell.

According to eyewitnesses, before climbing on the under-construction boiler, Manjhi had put on his safety harness. When he slipped, Manjhi remained suspended by the safety hook for some time, before it snapped and gave way, plunging Manjhi to his death.

Top BPSCL officials rushed to the accident site with an ambulance to ferry Manjhi to Bokaro General Hospital. However, by then dozens of workers of the power plant had reached the spot and prevented officials from taking away the body. They demanded compensation and a job for Manjhi’s kin. Negotiations were on till reports last came in.

The steel plant’s chief of communications Sanjay Tewary confirmed the incident.