Bhubaneswar: A Ganesh idol immersion procession turned into a tragedy in the city’s Jatni area on Saturday night when a slab from a roadside building collapsed on spectators gathered beneath it, leaving one man dead and nine others injured. Police are probing allegations by locals that blaring DJ music and the intense vibrations generated by it led to the structure’s collapse.Police identified the deceased as Chintu Barik (30), a resident of Jatni. Of the nine injured, six are being treated at different hospitals in Bhubaneswar, while three have been discharged. The injured are reportedly in stable condition.According to the police, the incident occurred around midnight when a large crowd gathered to watch the immersion procession. A decorative slab over a window of a building which houses a public sector bank suddenly collapsed on the spectators.“We shifted 10 injured persons to hospitals. One of them later succumbed to his injuries,” additional police commissioner Narasingha Bhol told TOI.Police said the building was around 40 years old, and the slab had been exposed to rain over the past few days.“We are investigating allegations by locals that vibrations from DJ music played during the procession contributed to the collapse. Building engineers are already examining the structure to ascertain the circumstances leading to the incident,” Bhol said.Locals alleged that police failed to effectively regulate the sound-limit violations during the procession. “More than 50 Ganesh idols took part in the procession, and most of them played loud music. Though police were present at the spot, they did not intervene,” a local resident said.Police, however, denied the allegation. “We came across sound-limit violations by some organisers and promptly intervened. The DCP himself stopped some organisers from playing loud music. This led to altercations between police and some organisers,” Bhol said.After the tragedy, additional police personnel were deployed to prevent any untoward incident. The immersion ceremony continued till the early hours of Sunday.
