Tragedy takes place at building site of Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust’s ayurvedic college.
Thirteen people died at Kesnand in Wagholi, off Pune-Ahmednagar Road, on Tuesday, when a portion of the under-construction dome of the upcoming ayurvedic college of Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust collapsed on them. The dome was being constructed between two four-floor buildings, which was to house the ayurvedic college. Incidentally, former president Pratibha Patil had performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the building last year.
According to resident deputy collector (RDC) of Pune Anil Pawar, the deceased labourers working at the site were trapped when the dome collapsed on them.
The rescue operation, despite being launched immediately, was slow because of the precarious condition of the accident spot. Most of the deceased were from neighbouring Karnataka and revenue officials were busy identifying the next of kin. The police are yet to register a case as spot panchanama and statements of those present on the site are yet to be recorded.
Speaking to DNA, superintendent of police SP Manojkumar Lohiya said, “As of now, 13 people have lost their lives in the accident, while one is injured.
The incident took place when about 15 people were working on the fourth floor of the structure at the site. The under-construction dome collapsed around 2.30 pm, trapping 14 people under the debris.”
The death toll would have been more if other people had not left the site just five minutes before the incident.
“Fortunately, around 10 employees had gone for lunch five minutes before the incident from the spot. We will take further course of action only after finishing spot panchanama and recording the statements of eyewitnesses,” Lohiya said.
He added that it took seven hours to remove bodies from debris.
All the bodies were taken out by 8.30 pm by the police and fire brigade with the help of residents. None of the officials of the college were available for comments.
The ayurvedic college, according to Pawar, was being constructed on Bulk Land No 676 in Kesnand and the total area of the land was 24.5 hectares. He said that the construction was proceeding as per sanctioned plans.
“The non-agricultural (NA) permit of land was granted in 2002 and the permission for construction on more than 10 lakh square metres was also given,” he said. Permissions were granted for four storeys, which was to be capped by an aesthetic dome that had collapsed.
Captain Alok Awasthi, commandant of Talegaon-based National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the office of the district disaster management, said. “We had rushed 41 people to the spot after receiving a call around 3.30 pm. However, as the building site was not easily accessible, we were slowed down in our efforts.”
The Wagholi dome collapse incident has once again exposed the disaster management apparatus and preparedness of the district collector office which had to rush NDRF at Talegaon, 35 kms from the accident spot.
NDRF, a part of National Disaster Management Authority under the Union Government, has its 5th battalion stationed in Talegaon. The same battalion was called after the building collapse at Taljai Pathar in Pune on September 24, 2012. The building collapse had claimed 11 lives and it was difficult to enter the narrow lanes at Taljai areas forcing the team to bring down one nursery school to carry out rescue work.
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