Gurugram building collapse: Death toll rises to 2; construction company's MD booked
Gurugram (PTI): Another body was pulled out on Friday from under the rubble of a partially collapsed apartment building here, taking the toll to two, officials said.
Police have booked the builder of Chintels Paradiso, a residential complex, and the construction contractor for negligence, while the district administration has ordered an inquiry into the matter, they said.
Residents staged a protest over the Thursday night incident, while the gates of the housing complex have been sealed by police.
While Ekta Bhardwaj (31) died last night, the body of Sunita Srivastava was recovered on Friday, officials said, adding that operations by rescue personnel at the incident site are still on.
Sunita Srivastava's husband, Arun Kumar Srivastava, who was trapped under the building's debris, has been hospitalised, they said.
The builder and the construction contractor have been booked on a complaint lodged by Ekta Bhardwaj's husband Rajesh Bharadwaj, the officials said.
Gurugram Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said, "A special inquiry team has been constituted and it will look into the allegations of negligence. Rescue operations are underway."
The officials said the dining room floor of a sixth-floor apartment at Chintels Paradiso housing complex in sector 109 first came down, triggering the collapse of roofs and floors directly under it, till the first floor.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are carrying out rescue works. Earth-moving machines and a fire brigade vehicle with an elevated platform have deployed.
Rajesh Bharadwaj, a resident of Block-D of the complex, in his complaint, said, "I got a call from my son Yatharth Bhardwaj that the ceiling of some floors of our tower have collapsed. In the incident my wife suffered injuries. She passed away around 7 pm."
He said that after he came from office, he saw that the ceiling of the sixth and seventh floors had collapsed. Rescue and police teams were working on the spot and after removal of debris my wife's body was recovered and taken to hospital, Rajesh Bharadwaj said.
"This incident has happened due to negligence and substandard construction work done by MD (managing director) of Chintels group Ashok Saloman and contractor of construction. There could be more fatalities and injuries to other flat resident of D-tower kindly take necessary legal action against the accused," he said in his complaint.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Deepak Saharan said, "FIR has been registered and probe is on. Action will be taken as per the law".
The builder and construction contractor have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 34 (common intention) at the Bajghera police station.
Deputy Commissioner Yadav had told reporters on Thursday that construction work was underway on the sixth floor when the floor collapsed.
He said third to sixth floors of the building were vacant and people were living on the first and second floors.
Local residents have said Tower D, part of which collapsed, was built in 2018. The complex has three other towers. The 18-floor Tower D has four-bedroom apartments.
The housing complex management has blamed the disaster on "negligence" during repairs for the "extremely unfortunate incident".
"Upon preliminary investigations, we have come to know that some negligence in repair work done by the contractor in an apartment led to this incident," it said, offering condolences to the "affected families".
The management said it is cooperating fully with the authorities.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
