Victim joined construction firm 4 days ago

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 9

Due to lure of double salary to feed a family of seven in a better way, Harvinder Singh, aka Babbu, had switched job four days ago.

A resident of Badwali village, Babbu is survived by his visually impaired father, wife, three daughters and a son. His body was handed over to the family after a postmortem examination this morning. A large number of people, including senior police officers, came forward to help the family cremate the victim.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Babbu’s neighbour Harinder Singh said the victim had gone to Dubai for greener pastures about five years ago but returned to India after about three years. Before joining the construction company four days ago, he was working at Chandigarh University for over a year and was getting Rs 10,000 as salary. He said the construction firm had offered him Rs 20,000 for driving a JCB machine.

The victim’s neighbour said after learning about the incident, he had immediately rushed to the spot and came to know that Babbu was buried under the debris of the collapsed building. He claimed that Babbu had died on the spot as a pillar had fallen over him.

Harinder said as reported by a section of media, the victim had not made any call to his family. He said the earth had been dug up two to three feet more than the foundation of the adjoining building.

He said Babbu’s family was very poor and did not have any agricultural land. He said every family in the village was worried about the survival of the remaining members of the family, which lost the breadwinner in the mishap. Meanwhile, Prem Bahadur and Harjeet, who had sustained injuries in the building collapse, are being treated at the Civil Hospital, Kharar.

SMO Dr Surinder Singh said as reported in certain section of the media that three persons were injured in the building collapse, only two persons with injuries were brought to the hospital.