Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: 4 Workers Rescued After Building Slab Collapses In Chikalthana

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The slab of the parking area of a new building under construction near the weekly market area in Chikalthana suddenly collapsed on Thursday evening, trapping four labourers under the debris. Fortunately, all four workers were subsequently rescued. The fire department and police rushed to the spot and launched an intensive rescue operation following the incident. It occurred at around 7.30pm.

The rescued labourers have been identified as Ankush Shantaram Kamble (35, resident of Vijaynagar, Garkheda) and Ashfaq Shaikh Kadu (25, resident of Sundarwadi). The identities and details of the other two rescued workers were not immediately available.

Construction of this building, located along the main road, has been underway for the past six months. A parking area has been provided on the ground floor, and work was in progress to lay a slab above it. A worker had gone underneath the slab to adjust its support structure when it suddenly collapsed.

Chief Fire Officer Ashok Khandekar, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ratnakar Navle and Police Inspector Ganpat Rahire immediately rushed to the scene. Meanwhile, Mayor Sameer Rajurkar and Leader of the Opposition and Corporator Kakasaheb Kakade also visited the site to inspect the rescue operations.

To prevent detailed information about the serious incident from coming to light, the contractor's men allegedly mingled with the crowd and attempted to create confusion. Workers who had initially provided clear accounts soon changed their statements.

They began giving evasive answers such as, "I don't know the name of the person working next to me" or "I don't remember how many people were down below", in what appeared to be an attempt to mislead. Meanwhile, the main contractor, identified as Rathod, reportedly fled the scene following the incident, and the police were searching for him.

An iron support had been installed underneath the slab to hold it in place, but it had become somewhat loose. Fearing that the entire slab might collapse if the support gave way, four workers went underneath it to repair the structure. However, due to an open barav (stepped well) located below, it was not possible to provide a firm support structure. As a result, the balance of the upper section was compromised. While efforts were being made to fix the support, a slab on one side suddenly collapsed. All four workers were trapped under the debris but were subsequently rescued.