Their lives came crashing down when the buildings around them started crumbling. Five persons, including four children, died in a span of five months in 2007 due to electrocution, and collapsing buildings in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quarters in Ejipura here.
Though they were promised compensation, four years later, the relatives of the deceased are still waiting for it.
In 2003, after one of the blocks in the EWS quarters collapsed, the Government ordered the demolition of all existing buildings and the construction of a new set of buildings for the nearly 6,000 residents of the colony. Some buildings were demolished while others were left untouched. It was in one of these buildings that tragedy struck on the night of July 24, 2007.
A daze
The events remain a daze for Sunita Mahendran who was grievously injured when the block collapsed on her family members. “We had gone to retrieve our things from our old house, when the apartment collapsed,” she said.
Her 18-month-old daughter, Mahalakshmi, and father-in-law, Perumal (41), died on the spot. Ms. Mahendran, who was then pregnant with her third child, and her husband were hospitalised for a month.
“There is pain still when I move,” she said, pointing to two long lacerations in her hand and leg where metal rods were inserted during the surgery. She hasn't worked a day since, and the family struggles to make ends meet with her husband's meagre salary.
Child electrocuted
A few weeks later, on August 10, seven-year-old Abukar Siddique died on the spot when he touched a fallen electrical wire while playing near his house.
Three months later on Deepavali, Block 34 collapsed killing Xavier (11) and Gabriel (15) on the spot, while injuring five other children. Distraught and frustrated by the Government's apathy, over 2,000 residents staged a protest in the area. It was only after then Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner S. Subramanya visited the scene that the protesters calmed down. “He assured the next of kin a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh,” said Xavier Luvies, who, as the president of the EWS Youth Association, spearheaded the protests then.
Police blame deceased
“We haven't received even a single rupee,” said Xavier's mother, Violet. More than the money, what pains her more now is the reason attributed by the police for the building collapse. “They said that the children were stealing bricks from the building and due to this, the building collapsed,” she said.
However, she and those who had known the children said that they were bursting crackers in the building at the time of the incident.
What is common in all these cases is that compensation had not been paid. Ms. Mahendran was one of the lucky ones having been given Rs. 50,000 for hospital expenses (she says she still has to repay a loan of more than Rs. 1 lakh).
“The association and the relatives have gone several times to the corporation seeking compensation. The authorities have deferred paying the compensation saying additional documentation was needed or that it would be given in a few months,” said Mr. Luvies.
“After new joint commissioners were appointed, they now tell us that it is too late to ask for compensation,” he added.
When contacted, Joint Commissioner (East), BBMP, K.C. Shivashankar said compensation was “time-bound” and “needed to be claimed immediately”.
