3 killed as shop collapses in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, August 2

Three persons, including a four-year-old girl, were killed when a shop collapsed in Sector 7 here this afternoon. Two HUDA employees were suspended for not keeping a watch on illegal construction.

The incident took place at Lucky Provision Store around 1:30 pm. The deceased were identified as Sunil (30) of Sector 7, his daughter Mahi (4) and Sanjay, a labourer.

According to preliminary investigation, the shop had been constructed illegally and leakage of water after heavy rain was the reason for the tragic incident.

Shop owner Lucky had got the first floor constructed a few days back. He engaged labourers today to carry out repairs to stop the leakage.

The first floor roof collapsed and fell on Sanjay some time after the work began. After a few minutes, the ground floor roof fell on Sunil and Mahi, who were in the shop, said Shakuntala Yadav, DSP.

The owner of the shop was not in the shop at the time of the incident. He had gone to the market with another labourer, she said.

“It was a case of illegal construction. A case is being registered against shop owner Lucky under Section 304 of the IPC. The owner is still absconding,” she said.

Taking serious note of the incident, Deputy Commissioner Aditya Dahiya ordered HUDA Estate Officer (EO) Yogesh Kumar to hold an inquiry.

The EO suspended two employees who had been assigned the task of checking illegal construction in Sector 7. It was a clear case of illegal construction, said Yogesh.

Junior Engineer Balbir Singh and field chowkidar Jaipal, who were supposed to check illegal construction in the area, stood suspended, said the EO. “I have directed the police to register a case against the owner as the shop was constructed illegally. Red Cross officials have been asked to provide assistance to the bereaved families,” Dahiya said.

As soon as the administration got information about the incident, one crane and two JCB machines were pressed into service for the rescue operation.

Dahiya reached the spot and reviewed the operation. All three bodies were pulled out from the debris after around an hour. The operation took around two and a half hours.