BPTP's under-construction Capital City shuttering collapses… 4 dead

Noida: Four persons were killed and five others were injured when the shuttering at an under-construction multi-storey private building collapsed in Sector 94, Noida, on Sunday morning. The police said that, prima facie, it appears that the shuttering was accidentally hit by a tractor-trolley carrying construction material which led to the collapse. However, the cause is yet to be confirmed.

According to the police, the deceased have been identified as the trolley driver Naushad, Karan, Vijaypal and Ramvijay, who were working at private real estate firm BPTP's 18-storey Capital City in Sector 94, when temporary fixtures built of iron came down crashing. "During the incident, nine persons were injured and rushed to a nearby hospital where four were declared brought dead on arrival. Ajay, Shadaab, Mahesh, Nisaarul and Ashok are undergoing treatment," said a senior police officer.

The local administration has assured compensation to the families of the victims pending a probe in the matter, even as a police official said that the workers, who were fixing windows and tiles on the building on Sunday morning using the shuttering, allegedly did not have safety harness.

"It has come to light that the labourers were wearing helmets but were working without any safety harness. Sources informed that a connecting pin on the shuttering was loose, which led to the structure collapsing when the tractor hit it. The exact details would be known after the probe. We will give compensation to the families as per the Wages Act," said Noida City Magistrate Shalender Mishra.

According to a BPTP spokesperson, work at the NOIDA site is being undertaken and supervised by Ahulawalia Contractors. All statutory compliances are also being done by them, including health and safety-related issues. The project is managed by multinational project management company Mott Macdonald, which has appointed a designated Health & Safety officer at the site. Ahluwalia Contracts said that the incident occurred when the tractor-trolley carrying sand hit the shuttering material.

Following the incident, the Gautam Budh Nagar police have registered a case under section 304 A (Causing death by negligence), 288 (Negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings) and 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code against Ahulawalia Contractors. However, the police are yet to make an arrest in the case.