Nine killed as slab of under-construction tower caves in Pune

Nine labourers were killed on Friday when a slab they were laying for the “unauthorised” 13th floor of an under-construction building in Balewadi area here collapsed, police said. “The mishap occurred at around 11 am when around 13-14 labourers were working on the 13th floor of the residential project,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Zone-III), B Teli said.

An officer attached to Chatushringi police station said that a case is being registered. “All the deceased hailed from Bihar and their bodies will be handed over to their families after autopsy,” he said.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Commissioner Kunal Kumar said the 13th floor of the ‘Park Xpress’ project was “unauthorised” as the said building had permission to construct only 12 floors. Following the incident, the civic body has issued a ‘stop work’ notice to the builder and also ordered stopping of the construction at other buildings at the site.

“As per PMC records, the building had permission till 12th floors, however, the 13th floor, of which slab was caved-in on Friday, was not given any permission and it was unauthorised,” said Kumar in a statement.

Speaking to reporters at the crash site, he said adequate safety precautions were not taken at the construction site, which led to the mishap. “If irregularities are found, guilty will be dealt with severely and a criminal case will be registered against them,” he told reporters.

As per the civic body, the particular project belongs to Pride Purple Properties LLP, and Arvind Jain, 

Shravan Agarwal, Shamkant Wani and Kailas Wani are its partners.