One killed in building collapse

A contract labourer was killed while another was injured when a portion of an old building where he was undertaking a repairing work collapsed and fell on them. The incident took place on Ho Chi Min Sarani on Sunday morning when the victims were working at an old dilapidated building.

After being informed by the local people the police and disaster management team had reached the spot and recovered one worker from under the concrete chunks while the rescue team had faced difficulties while removing another person who got trapped under the debris.

The disaster management team had cut the chunks to pieces and removed the person who was seriously injured in the accident. 

Both the victims were taken to a hospital where one was declared brought dead while the other is undergoing treatment at the hospital. Police said that the old building was earlier declared abandoned by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and was rendered inhabitable as the building department officials of the KMC found that the building might collapse. But the house owner allegedly turned a deaf ear to the KMC’s appeal. Police were conducting raids to nab the house owner who has been absconding since the incident had taken place.

In a separate incident, tension was triggered at the students’ hostel of the SSKM Hospital after plaster from the hostel’s ceiling fell on the floor. The medical students escaped injury in this incident.

On Sunday morning some students at the hostel spotted that plaster from the ceiling was coming off and it suddenly fell on the floor.

The students have alleged that despite the repeated pleas the hostel authorities did not take any action to repair the ceiling which has been in bad shape for quite sometimes. They said that the college authorities should have been aware about the matter after a portion of Moni Chhetri ladies hostel collapsed few months ago.