Two people were booked for alleged negligence after the roof of an under-construction godown collapsed near Shaheed Nagar metro station in Ghaziabad on Monday night, trapping 11 people under the debris, police said on Tuesday. All the victims, including a 12-year-old girl, were rescued and are stable.
An FIR was registered at Sahibabad police station under sections 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings) and 125(b) (acts endangering the life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The accused are the building owner and the labour contractor. No arrests have been made so far, police said.
“The workers were rescued with the help of locals, police, the fire department and other rescue teams. None suffered severe injuries, and all are stable,” said Rijul, deputy commissioner of police (Trans-Hindon zone), adding that an investigation was under way.
According to fire department officials, the workers had cast a roof slab for the godown on Monday evening before moving to lay the slab for the first floor. The structure on the first floor collapsed first, bringing down the ground-floor structure under the weight of the construction material, officials said.
“Prima facie, there was no support (pillars) to the structures on the ground. So, the structures could not hold for long and crashed to the ground,” said Saurabh Kumar Singh, chief fire officer.
Rescue teams worked for around five hours, with the operation continuing until 11pm on Monday. It was called off after officials confirmed that no other workers remained trapped under the debris, Singh said.
