One person died and two were injured after an elevator collapsed inside a marriage hall in Tondiarpet, around noon, on Sunday.
According to the police, the wedding of Krishna Kumar and G.S. Asha was being held at Annai Marriage Hall on Tondiarpet High Road on Sunday morning when the accident happened. The deceased was identified as Prasad Rao (52) of Ongole, Andhra Pradesh. K. Srinivas (40) and his wife Sunitha (32) from Kandukur near Ongole were injured.
The marriage hall has two elevators on the left side of its entrance. According to relatives of the victims, the staff of the hall did not respond to the guests’ complaints about the faulty elevator.
“We reached the hall on Saturday and found the elevator was getting stuck often. We complained to the marriage hall staff but they did nothing about it,” said B. Chiranjeevi, a relative of Krishna Kumar’s, who came from Ongole, Andhra Pradesh. The police said the hall owners were absconding.
Three of them – Prasad Rao, K. Srinivas and his wife Sunitha – got into the lift from the third floor. When it reached the second floor, it got stuck,” said D. Tejan, a relative. Caught inside, Srinivas called a relative, D. Charan, over phone and told him that he was suffocating. “I rushed to the manager and complained immediately. But he did not move from his chair. In a few minutes, there was a loud noise. The floor beneath shook as if there was an earthquake,” Mr. Charan said.
When they rushed to the ground floor, they saw smoke emanating from the elevator. “The door was open, possibly due to the impact. The mirror inside the lift had shattered and injured Prasad Rao badly. We rushed him to Apollo Hospital in Tondiarpet. He died soon after reaching the hospital,” said Mr. Chiranjeevi.
Srinivas and Sunitha were admitted to the hospital with injuries. “Nearly 15 of us were supposed to take the lift, but at the last minute, decided to walk down. Otherwise, the casualty would have been huge,” said Mr. Chiranjeevi.
According to P. Sivasankaran, police inspector, Korukkupet law and order, of the two elevators in the hall, one was shut down on Saturday, as it was not working properly.
“The marriage hall is owned by Umapathy and his partner Gurusamy, both residents of T. Nagar. But, after this incident, their houses were found locked. They are absconding,” the inspector said.
The deceased, Prasad Rao, is survived by his wife and two children. “His daughter is in her final year of MCA and his son is a B.Tech student. He was working as a reviewer in a private bank,” said Bharathi, Prasad Rao’s sister.
“The lift cable snapped and caused the accident. The hall is not very old. They charge Rs. 60,000 per day so we assume they maintain the hall reasonably well. We will know the exact cause of the accident after further investigation,” the police inspector said.
Keywords: elevator accident, marriage hall, Annai Marriage Hall
There should be stringent annual inspections by authorities and evidence of maintenance contracts - right now it is the liability of the hall owner - whether the manager has the same degree of guilt should be based on whether he alone was derelict in his duties. If indeed there were inspections and certifications, then the appropriate authorities should also be booked - this way, we can ensure that inspectors cannot issue certificates by receiving bribes.
No accountability, No safety, No responsibility, Absolute ignorance, have no clue how to organize ourselves. Regarding the above incident, nothing is going to happen. Let's read the article, comment and forget. Thats what we INDIANS are good at.
The building owner should be responsible for the incident.
Just horrible.. When they charge hefty amounts of 60K per day.. they need to have good service.
They should be penalized heavily along with imprisonment.
Dear Police offices and the Justices of the great NATION, Please ask the affected people to make a complaint against the culprits.
The Manager and the owner have to be brought in front of the Justice.
Necessary compensation (Blood Money) has to be collected from the owner of the Marriage Hall and shall be given to the affected ones.
Government has to bring a strong rule to make better safety to the living people of the country.
Safety Stands of our country have to be reviewed and necessary corrections shall be made.
In this case police can help a lot,by tracking with the forecoming booking days to recover the money for the deceased, Mr.Prasad Rao's family.
I really think that when those responsible for tragedies like these abscond, they should only be punished all the more. They delay an already slow "justice" system.
Dear sir,
It is 'ANNA thirumana maaligai', and not ANNAI, as mentioned in
the article. IT is in kalingarayan street, old washermenpet
The owners and the Manager should be booked for their callousness and the victime to be compensated by selling the marriage hall. It has happened to me in the marriage hall viz. Mariamman Hall in Madippakkam. Nobody came forward when the lift is not functioning. But they charge exhorbitantly for all the amenities they provide! An innocent life lost. Where are we heading? Who is responsible? Electrical Inspectorate? Marriage hall owner? Manager? Corporation Officials? or Government?
Like there is no rain to Tamilnadu except during a cyclone, there is no working safety standard for lifts, buses or buildings and the administration wakes up only very briefly after fatalities and goes in to sleep again. My heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family.
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