Bengaluru Building Collapse: Ex Gratia Announced, CM Siddaramaiah Meets Injured People As Rescue Ops Continue

Taking to ‘X’, office of the Prime Minister of India (PMO India) posted: “Anguished by the loss of lives due to the collapse of a building in Bengaluru. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover soon. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs from PMNRF would be provided to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000: PM @narendramodi".

KARNATAKA CM ANNOUNCES EX-GRATIA

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the family of all deceased persons. He said that the state government would cover the treatment cost of all the 6 seriously injured in the incident.

“The government will decide the compensation for them soon," the officials said.

The Chief Minister also met those injured at the hospital.

The Chief Minister urged the people to acquire appropriate licenses before the construction of their homes. He instructed that unauthorised buildings should not be allowed to be constructed at any cost.

“We have suspended the site engineer. The executive engineer has been served a notice. I urge people to build their homes with good-quality materials and get appropriate licenses. I have instructed that at no cost should unauthorised buildings be allowed to come up. For such an eventuality the executive engineer will be held responsible, zonal officer will be held responsible. We should ensure such incidents do not occur in the future, I have advised the BBMP Commissioner Tushar Girinath as well," he said.

BENGALURU BUILDING COLLAPSE

Eight people were killed and many others were injured in the incident. Teams from the fire and emergency department, National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Force were deployed for the rescue operations.

One body was recovered on Tuesday evening while four other people were found dead the next morning. Three more bodies were recovered by the evening on Wednesday. Those killed hailed from Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. Rescue operation is continuing on the spot.

Three people were arrested in connection with the incident.

“Muniraja Reddy under whose name the building was being constructed, his son Bhuvan, and the contractor Muniyappa who was building it have been arrested in connection with the incident," a senior police official said.

“Permission was only for construction of a four-storey building but seven floors were being constructed," he added.

ACTION TAKEN IN THE INCIDENT

Bengaluru’s civic body BBMP has swung into action following the incident and suspended Assistant Executive Engineer Vinay K with immediate effect for “serious dereliction of duty", the officials said.

Lokayukta Justice BS Patil visited the spot and assured necessary actions to prevent such incidents in the future.

“It is an unfortunate incident. Eight innocents have lost their lives. There is suspicion that two more people are still trapped. Who is responsible for it? Why it happened? Who is at fault? We have registered a suo moto case. We have come here for inspection," he said while speaking to the media.

NO SANCTIONED PLAN, NO LICENSE FOR CONSTRUCTION: OFFICIAL

Patil said that the inspection revealed there was no license and the building was being constructed illegally.

“When such a big building was coming up, there was no sanctioned plan nor license. It is said that the building was being constructed for the last two years. Still the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) officials have not tried to stop it. We have to come to know prima facie that no notice was served when the construction was on from foundation to the fourth floor," he said.

He stressed that the construction of buildings should not be carried out illegally and it has to be done with valid license. “The officials should not remain silent when unauthorised constructions are underway and then issue notice after they are completed," the official said.

“If the constructions are stopped, the question of demolition will not arise. Such incidents should not happen again and we will take all necessary actions," he added.

(With agency inputs)