Victim’s wife accuses trade union member of having caused car accident

The row over the incident in which a man was fatally knocked down by a premium car while being offloaded from a trailer near the vehicle dealer’s yard at Chalikkavattom in the city on June 22 refused to die down after the victim’s wife alleged that the person behind the wheel was a member of a trade union, which the union duly shot down.

The deceased was identified as Roshan Antony Xavier, 36, of Pandikudi in Mattancherry. He was working with the vehicle dealer. Anshad, who was engaged to offload the vehicles from the trailer, was reportedly a member of Ernakulam District Car Driver’s Union, claiming to be affiliated to the CITU.

However, C.K. Manisankar, State vice president of Headload Workers Federation, CITU, claimed that there was no such union affiliated with the trade union. While the union may have received registration from the Labour department, it has nothing to do with the CITU. He further said that the union might have used the name of the CITU to get things done.

When the controversy first erupted over the allegation that the accused was a headload worker of the CITU, Mr. Manisankar had said that no headload or general workers of the CITU or other trade unions were involved in the offloading of automobiles. “When automobile showrooms proliferated, some units of the CITU staked claimed to offloading of vehicles. But as it emerged that it was a specialised work, we decided against it realising that it could have led to the unacceptable practice of ‘nokkukooli,” he said.

However, Kerala Automobile Dealers Association (KADA) had petitioned the Chief Minister’s Office demanding legislation restricting the offloading of vehicles to those with expertise alone citing the tragic incident. It further alleged that it was common practice across the State for headload workers affiliated with trade unions with little expertise to force trailer operators transporting vehicles to engage them for offloading vehicles, as the other option was to pay nokkukooli.

The accused was booked by the Palarivattom police for causing death by negligence and endangering life or personal safety through rash or negligent behaviour. The deceased, standing on the ramp of the trailer, was knocked down by the vehicle, which was being driven out in reverse gear. The car also knocked down a few electric posts in the area before coming to a halt.

Meanwhile, the Motor Vehicles department has concluded that the accident was caused by human error and not due to machine defect.