NOIDA: Four of the five workers critically injured in the construction lift collapse at a housing society site in Greater Noida died on Saturday, taking the toll from Friday morning's accident to eight.

A ninth worker - with grievous head injuries - is battling for life in the ICU, reports Advitya Bahl.The lift carrying the nine workers to upper storeys of Tower C-10 at Amrapali Dream Valley's Phase 2 in Techzone 4 crashed to the ground after reaching the 14th floor.

Four workers were declared dead at District Hospital on Friday while five others were put on ventilator support.

Amid allegations that the lift had not been serviced despite a snag, a GM of Girdhari Lal Construction - the firm carrying out the construction - was arrested on Saturday.GM of construction firm arrested for negligenceThe FIR in the lift collapse case mentions nine persons as of now — Harish Sharma, Subhash Arora, Luvjeet and Devendra Sharma, all four general managers of Girdhari Lal Construction; Vikas and Aditya Chandra, general managers of the state-run NBCC; Rahul, the mechanical in-charge; Sunil, the general site in-charge; and Shailendra, a senior official of the lift company.

They have been booked under sections 304 (provides punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 337 (injury due to negligence), 338 (grievous hurt due to negligence), 287 (negligence related to machinery) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC and under provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment (CLA) Act.

“Devendra Sharma was arrested from his house in Heritage Floor and Villas in Jalpura.

He was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody,” said Suniti, DCP (central Noida).

The lift, the DCP said, was being operated even when it rained heavily on Friday morning.

“We arrested Devendra Sharma because he was responsible for maintenance at the tower where the accident occurred.

He had not repaired the lift even after workers informed him that it had malfunctioned a few days earlier.

Since it was a construction lift, it should not have been operated during rain,” she added.

Like other Amrapali projects, flats at Dream Valley were being completed under a Supreme Court-monitored process, for which the staterun construction company — NBCC — had been brought in.

NBCC had given a sub-contract to Girdhari Lal Construction.

The offices of NBCC and the private company carrying out the construction on its behalf have been closed at the project site.

Police have also written to the Greater Noida Authority to carry out an in spection of safety measures in place.

“Yes, we have asked the Authority to conduct a technical inspection of the site.

That is crucial to ascertain if there were lapses on the part of the construction firm,” said Suniti.

It has also come to the fore that one of the workers who died was only 14, triggering apprehension that children were being employed at the site.

The eight workers who have died so far are either from UP or Bihar.

Kuldeep Pal (20) of Kannauj, Maan Ali (20) of Balrampur, Mohammad Ali Khan (18) from Amroha and the minor boy from Meerut succumbed to injuries on Saturday.

Doctors said Kaif (21) of Meerut is on life support.

District magistrate Manish Kumar Verma said strict action would be taken against anyone found guilty.

“We are in touch with the families of the workers who died.

Their bodies are being sent to their hometowns for the last rites.

Police have initiated an investigation.

Those found guilty will be dealt with strictly,” he added.

NBCC and the Supreme Court-appointed receiver of Amrapali projects have announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of the workers who died.