3 dead, many trapped in Greater Noida twin-building collapse
Greater Noida, July 18: At least three persons have died in a twin-building collapse in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida area, police said on Wednesday.
The incident in Shahberi village took place late on Tuesday, apparently due to "too much moisture in the walls of the basement and poor construction material used", an official told IANS.
Three persons, including the builder Ganga Prasad Dwivedi have been taken into custody, he added.
There were a dozen families living in the two buildings and it is feared that more than 50 persons, including labourers were still buried under the debris.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams that had reached the spot immediately have pulled out three bodies from the rubble so far, the official added.
A state government spokesman said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed the District Magistrate (DM) to expedite the rescue and relief operations and ensure stringent action against those found guilty.
District Magistrate B.N. Singh, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Ashish Srivastava along with policemen from six police stations and NDRF teams requisitioned from Ghaziabad have been at the disaster site since the accident.
The rescue operations were hampered at night due to poor visibility. Union Minister and Noida Lok Sabha MP Mahesh Sharma also visited the crash site.
Rescue dogs, two hydraulic cranes and six bulldozers have been pressed into service to rescue the people trapped inside the debris.
An official told IANS that both the building had been built illegally and construction work on one had been completed after which a dozen families had shifted in it. The other was still under-construction.
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
