Nine labourers were killed and two more injured after the slab of an under-construction building collapsed at Balewadi in Pune on Friday morning.
The grisly tragedy occurred at 10: 30 in the morning, when a team of thirteen labourers were working on the 13th floor of an under-construction building which was part of a housing complex known as Park Xpress, a project by the Pride Purple construction group. Most hailed from the Eastern state of Bihar.
Eight were killed on the spot, while the ninth died during treatment and two others suffered minor injuries, said police sources, informing that the injured were undergoing treatment at the city’s Sassoon Hospital.
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“The labourers were about their usual tasks when the cement slab caved-in, killing eight of them on the spot. Another labourer died en route to the hospital,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Zone-III), B. Teli informed.
Mr. Teli further informed that the police were in the process of filing an FIR against the builder once proper responsibility was affixed. He said the contractors and the project owners were being investigated to ascertain who was responsible for the tragedy and questions like whether or not the labourers were wearing safety harnesses while working at that height or why was a safety net not erected below to preclude casualties were being probed.
Speaking to reporters in the evening, Pune Municipal Commissioner (PMC) Kunal Kumar said that the accident was clearly a case of “illicit construction” as the builders (Pride Purple) had violated norms by constructing an additional storey (the 13th floor) as permission to build only 12 floors, plus the basement, was given.
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As is often seen in such cases, Pune Mayor Prashant Jagtap, who was supervising rescue operations, said the civic authorities had taken “serious note” of the unfortunate incident.
“We are mulling over ordering an inspection of all such construction sites to ascertain whether they are ensuring adequate safety measures for their workers,” he said.
Despite Mr. Jagtap’s calls for stern measures, the Balewadi accident is a ghastly replay of a similar tragedy that took place in December 2012 at Wagholi, 20 km from Pune in which 13 labourers were killed when a slab of an under-construction building caved in.
Prior to that, in September that same year, six persons were killed on the spot and several more injured after a four-storey residential building caved in the city’s Sahakar Nagar area.
Safety norms and illicit constructions came to sharper relief in January 2014 when a newly constructed six-storey building collapsed in the city’s suburban region of Narhe-Ambegaon, tragically killing a 28-year-old youth who was trapped under the debris.
At the time, the PMC launched an investigation into illegal structures that had mushroomed in the city’s suburbs.