Investigations into the RG Kar elevator death showed that the lift operators at the hospital had not received any training on handling emergencies. They were appointed just a month before the tragic incident on March 20. Detectives from Kolkata Police discovered this crucial detail while questioning the three lift operators arrested in connection with the fatal incident at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
A senior police officer mentioned that the Public Works Department (PWD) had outsourced lift maintenance at RG Kar Hospital to one agency. However, the responsibility of providing lift operators was given to a different agency. The contract with the previous agency supplying lift operators ended in February, and a new agency took over from mid-February, recruiting a new team of lift operators.
The new lift operators were given a supervisor, but the supervisor would leave at night. The arrested lift operators admitted during interrogation that in the supervisor’s absence at night, most of them did not stay inside the lifts during their night shifts. Instead, some would sleep, listen to music, or chat. This lack of presence led to no lift operator being near the lift on the day of the incident.
The three arrested lift operators revealed to the detectives that before starting their duties, they were only taught how to operate the lift. They were instructed to go to the floor above and manually hoist the lift if it stalled midway. However, they were not trained on specific emergency procedures. Detectives are now planning to question the authorities of the agency that employed them regarding this issue.
The arrested lift operators also disclosed that during the commotion, they took a different lift down to the basement. They found the grille gate locked in front of that lift. In the basement, they heard the screams of Arup and his wife, Sonali. Believing the family was trapped inside the elevator car, they did not realize that Arup and his companions were stuck between the elevator car and the outer grille, struggling to survive in the elevator shaft pit.
