Four migrant labourers killed, 20 injured as rice mill building …
Four labourers, all migrants from Bihar, were killed and 20 others injured when a three-storey rice mill building collapsed at Taraori in Haryana's Karnal district early on Tuesday. The police registered an FIR against the rice mill owners for causing death by negligence while the district administration ordered a probe. When the incident took place at around 3 am, nearly 150 labourers were sleeping inside the residential building constructed in the outer area of Shiv Shakti Rice Mill complex, Karnal's Deputy Commissioner Anish Yadav said.
He said four labourers died at the spot. The NDRF officials, who reached the site to carry out rescue operation at 8 am, said the building was nearly 30 years old and unsafe. In a complaint to the police, labour contractor Ramdev Mehto said: "The building... (was) in a very poor condition.
We repeatedly asked mill owner Ramesh Kumar Gupta and his son to get it repaired or shift the labourers to another building. But they neither got it repaired nor shifted us to another building". According to Mehto, as many as 250 labourers used to sleep in the building.
The workers at the site said that the entire porch portion of the three-storey building collapsed leaving the portion with the rooms largely unaffected. The workers say that mainly the workers who died or suffered injuries were sleeping in the porch on all three floors. One of the injured workers at the site said: "A repair work was initiated a few days back to strengthen the pillars of the building.
4 workers dead, 20 injured as rice mill building collapses in Karnal; many feared trapped
Read: https://t.co/rMqaBIn8JC pic.twitter.com/SO8N2jRX1a[1][2] -- The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) April 18, 2023[3][4][5] Four migrant labourers killed, 20 injured as rice mill building collapses in KarnalHowever, the pillars collapsed today bringing down the porch".
The workers sleeping in the rooms were brought out with the help of stairs from back side of the building. "It was like a blast, similar to lightning strike," said Ganesh Kumar, 22, who is from Samastipur[6] district of Bihar. According to Ganesh, the workers -- who are mostly engaged in loading and unloading of rice at the mill--are from Samastipur, Purnia[7], Begusarai[8], Munger[9] and Khagaria[10], all in Bihar. The four deceased have been identified as Avdesh, Chandan, Pankaj and Sanjay.
According to the mill management, five of the injured have been admitted to a private hospital of Karnal while two were referred to PGI Chandigarh[11]. Rest were admitted to nearby government health centre. Advertisement
DC Yadav said: "Primarily it looks that the building structure was unsafe. A committee headed by an SDM-level officer has been formed to look into the reasons leading to the building collapse. Executive engineer (Buildings and Roads) will be its member.
Based on the report, we will take appropriate action." Karnal SP Shashank Kumar Sawan said that the committee will submit its report within two days.Officials said the injured were hospitalised and most of them were later discharged. The district administration announced that the next of kin of those who died in the incident will be given Rs 8 lakh each as financial assistance, while the injured will get Rs 1 lakh each.
Advertisement A senior functionary of the mill management claimed that they did not get any notice from any department regarding the safety of the building. They claimed that the building was just 10-12 years old.
Rice mill owner Ramesh Gupta said: "The mill workers used to wash their clothes in the porch of the building, which led to seepage of water and weakening of the building." The building was situated right in front of a link road used by the loaded trucks. An NDRF official said that the movement of heavy vehicles might have also affected the stability of the building.
However, the pillars collapsed today bringing down the porch". The workers sleeping in the rooms were brought out with the help of stairs from back side of the building. "It was like a blast, similar to lightning strike," said Ganesh Kumar, 22, who is from Samastipur district of Bihar. According to Ganesh, the workers -- who are mostly engaged in loading and unloading of rice at the mill--are from Samastipur, Purnia, Begusarai, Munger and Khagaria, all in Bihar.
The four deceased have been identified as Avdesh, Chandan, Pankaj and Sanjay. According to the mill management, five of the injured have been admitted to a private hospital of Karnal while two were referred to PGI Chandigarh. Rest were admitted to nearby government health centre.
Advertisement DC Yadav said: "Primarily it looks that the building structure was unsafe. A committee headed by an SDM-level officer has been formed to look into the reasons leading to the building collapse.
Executive engineer (Buildings and Roads) will be its member. Based on the report, we will take appropriate action." Karnal SP Shashank Kumar Sawan said that the committee will submit its report within two days.Officials said the injured were hospitalised and most of them were later discharged.
Advertisement The district administration announced that the next of kin of those who died in the incident will be given Rs 8 lakh each as financial assistance, while the injured will get Rs 1 lakh each. A senior functionary of the mill management claimed that they did not get any notice from any department regarding the safety of the building.
They claimed that the building was just 10-12 years old. Advertisement Rice mill owner Ramesh Gupta said: "The mill workers used to wash their clothes in the porch of the building, which led to seepage of water and weakening of the building."
The building was situated right in front of a link road used by the loaded trucks.
An NDRF official said that the movement of heavy vehicles might have also affected the stability of the building.
References
- ^ https://t.co/rMqaBIn8JC (t.co)
- ^ pic.twitter.com/SO8N2jRX1a (t.co)
- ^ The Indian Express (indianexpress.com)
- ^ IndianExpress (indianexpress.com)
- ^ April 18, 2023 (twitter.com)
- ^ Samastipur (indianexpress.com)
- ^ Purnia (indianexpress.com)
- ^ Begusarai (indianexpress.com)
- ^ Munger (indianexpress.com)
- ^ Khagaria (indianexpress.com)
- ^ Chandigarh (indianexpress.com)