BATHINDA: Three labourers died when a double storey house which was being lifted by erecting hydraulic jacks, caved in at Pharwahi village in Barnala district of Punjab on the wee hours of Sunday. With successive road carpeting the house had reached at the level of street and owner of the house had decided to lift the house by putting jacks nearly a week ago. The sewage water is learnt to be flowing to the foundation and a spell of rain on Sunday morning caused the caving in, said the police.The old two storey house belonged to one Vishal Kumar of the village. He had hired a contractor for lifting the house. The contractor had engaged four labourers for the job. The labourers were working till late in the evening and used to sleep at the place. Luckily one of the labourers late Saturday decided to go to his home leaving three labourers behind.As per villagers, they heard a big noise around 4.30am and when came out, the villagers found the house had collapsed. An announcement was made from the village Gurdwara speaker system asking villagers to indulge into rescue operations. The villagers pulled out three labourers and sent them to civil hospital Barnala where they were declared dead.Barnala DSP Satbir Singh said that police team and Tehsildar is assessing the situation and reasons behind the collapse. If any negligence is found on the part of house owner and contractor, appropriate action will be taken.
