PANAJI: A construction worker died on Monday when a trench to lay a sewer line collapsed on him in Goa capital Panaji, people aware of the matter said.

“We removed him as soon as possible, but he was declared dead after being removed from the trench,” a fire and emergency service official said.

The incident prompted sharp attacks from the opposition parties that attacked the Pramod Sawant government for the incident at the project site. The sewer line was being laid in connection with the Ribandar Smart City Project.

Goa Congress president Amit Patkar said that the incident reflected the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s attitude towards the poor.

“There needs to be accountability and identify and penalise who is responsible for the death,” Patkar said. “This BJP government only cares for the lives of people. Only those who have money, they get justice”.

In a post on X, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) unit chief Amit Palekar demanded a first information report (FIR) against the contractor and project officials “for this deliberate rash and negligent act charging them under provisions of IPC and also under section 120-B IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, for criminal conspiracy to loot public money, putting lives in danger and causing death”.

The municipal corporation hasn’t issued a statement on the death yet.