Mumbai: NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Monday demanded in the State Assembly that those responsible for the Kondhwa wall collapse should be booked for culpable homicide. The builder had been alerted by the residents about the poor condition of the wall and had demanded its reconstruction, he said.
Pawar further said that no other builder should neglect complaints from residents and allow such incidents to happen.
Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil assured him that a five-member committee is probing the incident. The panel will comprise additional district collector, officials of labour commissionerate, Pune police, officials from Pune Municipal Corporation and deputy director of town planning.
15 people were killed on Saturday morning after a compound wall collapsed at a construction site in Pune’s Kondhwa area. All 15, belonging to families of labourers, were housed in temporary shelters built at the site.
Pawar raised the issue through a calling attention motion. “Whenever such type of incidents happen, they are discussed for next two-three days and then nothing happens. The contractor or developer goes missing for the next few months. Such builders always violate the civic body’s construction regulations. No security norms for labourers have been followed by the builders in Kondhwa area, where thousands of constructions are going on,” Pawar said.
“The contractor has no record of the labourers, due to which there are problems of giving relief and financial aid to the victims’ kin. The civic body and police did not pay enough attention to the complaint, which was unfortunate,” he said.
In reply, Patil said a total of 11 people have been booked for culpable homicide and two arrested.
“The construction work was going on in a very narrow lane. There was no space for ambulances to reach the accident site. I wonder how permissions are given for construction of residential premises,” said Patil.
The minister further said the licences of the structural engineer and the building’s architect have been suspended and they have been blacklisted.
Patil also informed the house that the registration of the RCC (structural design) consultant has been.
