4 dead in Dera Bassi building collapse

Tribune News Service

Dera Bassi, September 24

Four persons died after a double-storeyed under-construction commercial building collapsed at Meera Milli Mohalla near Ramlila Ground here this morning.

The deceased have been identified as Gopi Chand (60), Raju (46), Ramesh Sardara (45) and Hardev Singh (72).

The bodies of Gopi, Raju and Ramesh, who were working at the site at the time of the incident, were retrieved from the debris, whereas the building owner, Hardev, who sustained multiple injuries, was taken to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, where he died during treatment.

Mohali Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident. Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Kuldeep Bawa has been directed to submit a report within 10 days.

The incident occurred around 9.30 am when seven workers, along with the building owner, were at the construction site. Luckily, four workers, who were working around the building, escaped unhurt when the roof of the first floor of the building caved in.

The work on construction of 10 shops by demolishing old houses was underway when the mishap occurred.

“The cause of the collapse is yet to be ascertained, but prima facie faulty sanitary work may be the reason, said the Deputy Commissioner.

Officials said bad sanitary fittings were the cause of the incident. Suitable action would be taken after the inquiry report.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), civil, police, medical and fire departments carried out a four-hour rescue operation.

Sniffer dogs were also used to find out if more people were trapped under the debris.

Faulty sanitary work to blame?

The work on construction of 10 shops by demolishing old houses was underway when the mishap occurred.

“The cause of the collapse is yet to be ascertained, but prima facie faulty sanitary work may be the reason,” said Mohali Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan.

No lessons learnt

In February this year, one person was killed and two others sustained injuries when a three-storeyed building collapsed on the Kharar-Landran road in Dera Bassi. It had come to light that builder Parveen Kumar had not taken permission to install the second mobile tower atop the building. The police had booked the builder and the contractor.