PAP wall collapse raises questions over its security

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 5

The wall collapse incident that occurred in the wee hours today at the Punjab Armed Police complex during the Indian Air Force (IAF) recruitment rally has raised an alarm bell for the PAP authorities.

The campus is spread on 174 acres of land and has a high boundary wall of nearly 5.5 km, which was reportedly fitted with a barbed wire recently to strengthen it. But today’s incident showed as to how fragile the walls of the highly secured area were. Even as just about 30-40 youths reportedly leaned on it, the wall gave in making the access open to the compound.

During the wall collapse, the barbed wire too fell along. The wires for the security lights snapped during the incident. The current in the wires passed through the fence which led to injuries to about 20-22 youths, who had come from Jalandhar and adjoining districts to take part in the recruitment rally.

Special DGP, PAP, IPS Sahota, said: “The PAP ground was simply a venue for the IAF recruitment. The wall collapse occurred as its foundation had gone weak after recent spells of rain. The plinth level outside the wall is about 1.5 feet higher than on inside. As the candidates put weight on it, the wall came inwards, leading to their injuries. Only one of the 22-odd injured youth is currently admitted to hospital and he too is reportedly showing signs of improvement.”

Notably, the PAP ground has two compounds on either side of the PAP Chowk. This wall was near Ladowali Road and is learnt to have been constructed about 40 years ago. Another wall of the PAP is said to have fallen off during a recent storm.

IG, PAP, Jaskaran Singh, too said, “The wall tilted as the youth climbed over it to see what was happening inside. It gave way due to push and excess weight on it.”

He ruled out any mechanism used on the PAP campus to pass the electric current in the fence to keep anti-social elements at bay.

Kunal Sharma, an injured aspirant who had come from Pathankot, said: “The moment the wall collapsed, I came in contact with a wire and got electrocuted. For a few seconds, I couldn’t even breathe and was taken out from the debris with the help of passers-by”.

His father, Kamal Sharma who had reached the Civil Hospital in the morning, rued, if proper arrangements were put in place, the youth wouldn’t have suffered.

Gaurav Singh (20) and his friends, who had come from Anandpur Sahib, said he had come for a job and had ended up spending the day on the hospital bed. Gaurav said he was waiting for the rally from several months and had practiced a lot to clear the physical round.

Despite the mishap that took place right at the start of the recruitment drive, the selection process went on normally for the whole day. Clearly, the candidates who got injured could not participate in the rally and were upset over having lost the chance for no fault of theirs.