After heavy rains in Pune, a compound wall collapsed at a construction site in city’s Kondhwa area, resulting in the death of 15 people out of which 4 were children, 10 men and one woman. The wall fell on the temporary sheds where the labourers were staying and crushed them to death. A few cars also caved into the ground with the fall.
All 15 of the deceased, from Bihar, were sleeping when the wall collapsed.
Search and rescue operations have been seized. Three people were resuced alive and are now hospitalized with multiple injuries.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for the next in kin of the deceased, followed by an inquiry.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister and Pune Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil, ensured that a committee comprising of police officers, municipal officers and additional collectors will be submitting a report within 24 hours. He added
The three-member committee has been given the mandate to look into who were the developers, architects, structural engineers involved at the said construction site and the one next to it. It will also look into how these labourers were brought to the site and if all the adequate procedures were completed for their employment.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar shared his condolences and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next in kin of the deceased and a compensation of Rs 50,000 to those who were injured.
Many have expressed their outrage over this preventable accident.