Two labourers were killed while another one was seriously injured after a huge chunk of the ceiling slap collapsed on them during internal repair and renovation work of shops in a building located in the Venu Nagar area of Bhayandar (east) on Sunday morning.
Tragic Collapse At Shreenath Jyoti Building
The tragic incident was reported from the ground floor of Shreenath Jyoti building at around 10:30 am. A huge cement chunk from the ceiling collapsed on all the three workers who got trapped under the debris. After receiving information, fire brigade personnel immediately started an operation to rescue the trapped workers.
While Hariram Chauhan (55) and Makhanlal Yadav (26) died on the spot, another labourer identified as-Akash Kumar Yadav who sustained serious head and other injuries was rushed to a nearby hospital where his condition is said to be critical. Senior officers including civic chief- Sanjay Katkar personally visited the spot and supervised the rescue operation. According to the chief fire officer- Dr. Prakash Borade, the owner of the shop identified as-Vinay Kumar Tripathi had hired the labourers to carry out the repair and renovation work.
llegal Construction Activity Raises Structural Concerns
Apart from trying to remove an existing slab which was used to keep the water storage tank, it is suspected that a wall partition was also demolished which led to the mishap. Anticipating a threat to the structural stability of the building due to the illegal internal changes, office bearers of the housing society had registered a complaint with the local ward office of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC).
“Acting on the complaint, our ward officer had stopped work and confiscated the construction equipment a few days ago. However, the owner brazenly defied the warnings and had resumed the work.” said deputy civic chief-Ravi Pawar.
Meanwhile, the process was on to register an offence against the owner at the Navghar police station, as further investigations were underway.
