2 of family die as roof collapses in Verka

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, June 26

A woman and her son were killed and four other members of the family injured after an a portion of the first floor of the building of the next-door neighbour collapsed over their house leading to collapse of the roof of a room of their house at Verka here this morning. The deceased has been identified Jyoti (34), and her son Sehaj (8), residents of Dhariwal. The incident occurred around 9.30am. Those injured were admitted to hospital.

Yashpal, one of the victims and head of the family, said there was a double-storey building next to their house. The first floor of the building was in bad shape as the owners had some property dispute and was not renovating the building for the last few years. Yashpal had asked them several times to get the building repaired, but they did not care.

This morning, it was raining heavily and the first floor of the building collapsed over Yashpal’s house leading to the incident. As a result, six members of the family, including Yashpal, were buried under the debris. Jyoti, daughter of Yashpal, and her eight-year-old son Sehaj, reportedly died on the spot. Yashpal, his wife, son

and grandson were injured in the incident.

Area residents removed the debris and rescued the family members. Harsandeep Singh, SHO, Verka police station, said, “On receiving the information, we rushed to the spot. The married daughter of Yashpal lived at Dhariwal in Gurdaspur district. They were shifted to Dhariwal. We have got both houses vacated and arranged a shelter.”

Meanwhile, a portion of another unsafe building collapsed at Katra Baggian here. An SUV was damaged in the incident. No loss of life has been reported.

As per information, over a century-old building had been declared unsafe by the authorities concerned and a local resident had recently bought it. Workers with expertise in demolishing old buildings were pulling it down. A portion of the building collapsed due to heavy rain. Fortunately, there was no movement of traffic in the adjoining busy street. Only an SUV parked along the building was damaged.

No fresh survey of unsafe buildings

As per data of the last survey conducted by the MC in 2017, there were around 125 unsafe buildings in the city. The MC had reportedly issued notices to the owners of these buildings. No survey has been conducted after that. The MC had served notices in 2020 to the owners of some old buildings, asking them to either get these repaired or vacate these. MC officials said they were unable to take any action in the matter as several cases were sub judice.

Past incidents

March 27, 2023: The roof of a two-storey house collapsed at Tilka Nagar near Bhiayan Da Shivala in Muslim Ganj area. No casualty was reported.

Jan 9, 2022: A 17-year-old youth died after the roof of his house collapsed at New Jawahar Nagar in Maqboolpura area

July 21, 2021: The roof of a house collapsed in the Shakti Nagar Chowk area after heavy rain. Four family members, including owner Monu Kumar, got trapped inside the room

Aug 28, 2020: Three persons, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed and three others were injured after a three-storey building collapsed in the Guru Nanakpura area on the Sultanwind road after heavy rain

Aug 11, 2020: A 50-year-old four-storey building collapsed in the Cheel Mandi area in Amritsar. No casualty was reported

March 6, 2020: Four members of a family, including six-month-old twins, were killed when the roof of their house caved in due to rain at Babbu Singh Colony in Mule Chak locality.