Threestorey building collapses in Gomti Nagar
Incident causes fire in a nearby house, other properties in vicinity damaged
LUCKNOW : A 14-year-old threestorey building, which was to be razed in 2016 as per orders by Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), collapsed on Thursday afternoon. The building is situated in a residential area near Husadia in Gomti Nagar.
Though no loss of life was reported, the incident caused a fire in a nearby house and damaged other properties in the vicinity.
“I was having lunch when I heard a loud noise. It felt like an earthquake, so I rushed outside to realise that the building had collapsed,” said Sandeep Kumar Singh who lives in a house located behind the building.
In the house adjacent the building, Jharna Rastogi was with her aunt when she heard the sound of the building collapsing.
However, this resident faced another problem. An overhead electricity wire, damaged after the collapse, landed in her porch. A spark from the wire soon caused a fire to other parts of the house. “We were lucky enough to have left the house before the fire grew strong,” said Rastogi.
“The building’s second floor caved in on the roof of the first floor, leading to the collapse of the entire structure. The incident occurred around 2 pm. A police team reached the spot within minutes.
Fire tenders were also rushed to put off the fire in the nearby building,” said Kalanidhi Naithani, SSP (Lucknow).
The building that once housed a restaurant, offices and a battery showroom, was abandoned for over a year now, according to its owner, Ashok Kumar Pandey.
A small paint shop was still functional on the first floor of this building. “We left the building in 2015 and only visited the place occasionally.
The main gate used to remain locked,” Pandey said, adding that the he smelt a conspiracy by some people behind the accident. “The names of people behind the conspiracy will come up in further investigation,” he added.
The incident put a question mark over LDA’s functioning because it failed to raze the build- ing even two years after the orders.
According to LDA PRO Ashok Pal, the building was not razed yet as Pandey had filed an appeal against the demolition order.
A similar ‘neglect’ by Lucknow Municipal Corporation led to the collapse of a section of an old building in Hazratganj earlier this year.
Officials from State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) were deployed in Husadia area to ensure that no one got trapped under the debris of the collapsed building.
The SDRF operation was on by the time this report was filed. No complaint was lodged with the police regarding the matter.