9 killed as extra floor collapses in Pune

Building had permission for 11 floors, but was building 14; builders will be booked

Nine labourers were killed on the spot when a concrete slab of the 13th floor of an upcoming building collapsed at Balewadi in Pune on Friday morning. Three persons were injured in the incident.

Pune municipal corporation commissioner Kunal Kumar said a criminal case would be lodged against the builders concerned. Mr Kumar said, “The 13th floor was being illegally built. And we are going to cancel the construction license of the builder and contractor. We are going to register a criminal complaint against the builders.”

Following the incident, Mr Kumar and mayor Prashant Jagtap had rushed to the spot.

Pride Purple company is constructing Park Express phase II at Balewadi. Though the project has permission for 11 floors, 14 floors were being built. The slab that collapsed belonged to the 13th floor that was being built. The project is owned by builders Arvinda Jain and Shravan Agarwal.

“A slab of the gallery of the 13th floor fell when construction was going on. Nine labourers got crushed under the debris and were killed on the spot. We reached within 15 minutes of receiving the call at 11.10 am and removed debris as soon as reaching the site. All were taken to Aundh District Hospital where nine were declared dead,” said Prashant Ranpise, chief fire brigade officer, Pune municipal corporation.

The dead were identified as Basawant Saha, Tufan Saha, Sarban Saha, Karan Saha, Munna Paswan, Varun Singh, Bipin Thakur, Vijay Paswan and Rajesh Paswan.

Police inspector Dayanand Dhome of the Chatushrungi police station said, “We have slapped IPC 304 against the builder for culpable homicide.”

The builders did not reply to repeated calls for comment on the issue.