One dead, six injured as roof of Panipat gurdwara collapses

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, June 12

At least one person was killed and six others injured when the main structure of Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sahib Pehli Patshahi, located on the National Highway-1, collapsed here on Monday evening.

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Members of the gurdwara committee said work on false ceiling was on when the structure gave way around 4.45 pm.
Officials from the district administration rushed to the scene and started rescue operations.

Experts from Indian Oil Corporation Limited besides teams from the Public Wealth Department (Building and Roads) joined the operations. Pradeep Atri, exective engineer, PWD (B&R), said: “The main building of the gurdwara, comprising four floors, including the dome, collapsed.”

Prima facie, the building collapsed under its own stress. The lower portion could not bear the load of the structure, he said.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Chander Shekhar Khare said: “Seven persons were pulled out of the debris. While one was declared brought dead at the hospital, three of the six injured were admitted.” Three to four people could still be trapped under the debris, he added.

The person who died has been identified as Dheeraj, a resident of Sitapur of Uttar Pradesh.

Those injured have been identified as Jarnail Singh (75), a resident of Insar Bazaar in Panipat; Sartaj Ahmed (40) from Delhi; Krishan (36) from Uttam Nagar, Delhi; Lokesh (5) and Monika (5) from Delhi and Maya Devi (50) from Wadhawa Ram Colony, Panipat.

One of the injured has been referred to a hospital in Khanpur and another to Karnal’s Kalpana Chawla Medical College.