Three of family killed in house collapse after heavy rain

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, July 25

A mother-daughter duo was buried alive as their two-storied temporary dwelling collapsed due to overnight rain in Pali village of Gaja Tehsil in Tehri Garhwal district today.

Shanti Devi (45) and her three-year-old daughter Sumitra hailed from Gram Balma, Nepal.

Shanti’s husband Ram Prasad, who was also buried under the debris, died on his way to Narendar Nagar Hospital. The revenue police have recovered the bodies of the deceased and sent them for postmortem.

Ram Prasad was working as a mason in the area from the past one-two years. The family was sleeping in their two-storied temporary house early this morning when the house caved in, leaving them with no room to escape.

Narendar Nagar SDM Laxmi Raj Chauhan and Naib Tehsildar Gambhir Singh reached the spot to assess the damage. The house was in a dilapidated state.

The incident has raised the issue of buildings constructed near the rain-fed drains or nullahs and those in a dilapidated condition.

Tehri District Magistrate Indudhar Baudai said people living near the slide zones or in the houses that were in dilapidated conditions had been told to shift elsewhere to avoid any kind of danger in the future.

If they did not leave such dwellings, the administration would not be able to grant any ex-gratia to them in the future, he added.