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Thursday, Dec 13, 2007
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When joy turned into mourning

Afshan Yasmeen

Delay in medical help upsets relatives of balcony collapse victims

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

REACHING OUT: Governor Rameshwar Thakur at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital on Wednesday enquiring about the condition of those injured in Tuesday’s building crash in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: A day after an occasion of joy turned into mourning in seconds, the families of the victims and residents of Nehrupuram in Bharatinagar are yet to recover from the trauma of seeing seven dead and 13 injured when a balcony collapsed on Tuesday night in the middle of a function preceding a wedding.

Several of their near and dear ones standing on the second floor balcony of the bride’s residence witnessing the haldi (pre-nuptial ceremony) went hurtling down when the floor beneath gave way. Seven who were seriously injured in the fall died in hospital.

Ruqsar Begum, whose sister Dilshad Begum fractured her leg in the accident, said, “Kuch pata nahi chala. Phalak zhapakne ke andar aisa hogaya.” (It all happened in a blink of an eye).

The shamiana meant to celebrate the pre-wedding ceremony of the bride, Nazia, ended up accommodating a large number of mourners for the funeral of the seven.

When this reporter visited the spot on Wednesday, the janazaas (mortal remains) of Salma and Sultana were being taken for burial. Burqa-clad women, including relatives, friends and neighbours, offered duva (prayers) for the dead.

While Nazia’s brother-in-law Mohammed and nephew Faizan Sherief are among the dead, her mother is battling for life in hospital. The wedding was fixed for Thursday.

Of the 13 injured, the condition of seven admitted to Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital is stable. The remaining six are in private hospitals, and two of them are said to be in critical condition.

Chaos at hospital

There was chaos at Bowring Hospital as relatives and friends protested against the absence of doctors and prompt medical aid when the victims were rushed there.

Seven lives were lost because they did not get immediate help.

If the doctors had attended to them immediately, the lives of at least four could have been saved. So Nafisa, Gulnaaz and Manjula were shifted to private hospitals, Syed Mujahid and Tanveer Ahmed said.

“The doctors responded only after Governor Rameshwar Thakur and the former Ministers R. Ashok and Katta Subramanya Naidu visited the hospital and pulled up Medical Superintendent Rajiv Shetty. We demanded that Dr. Shetty be immediately suspended,” Mr. Mujahid said. Tehsin Taj, whose daughters — Almas Taj (13), Arshia Taj (11) and Simren Taj (3) — are being treated at Bowring Hospital, said her family had been living in the housing block for 17 years.

“We were paying a rent of Rs. 250 for the first five years. After that the local leaders asked us not to pay,” she said.

M. Pari, former Bharatinagar councillor, blamed the erstwhile Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) officials for the accident.

“With the contractor dead and the BBMP disowning the building on the grounds that the contractor had not handed it over to the civic body, people are asking who is responsible for the tragedy,” he said.

The former Mayor P.R. Ramesh said, “Although the BBMP, the contractor and the occupants are involved in this, the onus lies on the BBMP.” BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance) Sandeep Dash gave Rs. 1 lakh to each of the families of the dead and Rs. 25,000 to the injured as compensation.

BBMP Commissioner S. Subramanya told The Hindu that he had ordered an inquiry into how the collapse occurred. “Special Commissioner K.R. Sreenivas will submit a report within a week,” he said.

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