LUCKNOW: One woman was killed and eight, including a woman constable, suffered injuries when two dilapidated buildings collapsed in the Pancho Pandva area adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath Dham on wee hours on Tuesday.
Taking cognisance of the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called up the district authorities asking them to ensure best possible treatment for injured persons.
According to Police commissioner Mohit Agrawal, Varanasi police, NDRF, and fire brigade personnel launched a rescue operation as soon as the incident came to light. Nine people were present inside the houses at the time of incident, two of them managed to escape. He added that seven others and a woman constable were trapped in the debris. They were rescued and rushed to the SPG divisional hospital, where Premlata Gupta (43) was declared brought dead.
Other injured people, including Ramesh Gupta (50), Kusumlata Gupta (48), Rishabh Gupta (24), Aryan Gupta (16), Ritika Gupta (23), Puja Gupta (36), and Sapna, were admitted to the divisional hospital. In view of the critical condition of woman constable Bindu (20), the doctors referred her to the trauma centre of BHU. Manish Gupta (39) and his son were discharged after first aid.
Divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma said families of Ramesh Gupta and Ashok Yadav lived in the two adjacent houses which were over 70 years old. On noticing that their house was shaking, Yadav and his family members rushed out. Sharma added that when the buildings started collapsing, only Manish Gupta and his son Akshay managed to escape, although they, too, suffered minor injuries. Ramesh and six other persons, including two guests — Premlata and her daughter Sapna (26), who had arrived from Azamgarh, got trapped in the debris. When debris fell on the street, a woman constable on a picket duty, too, came under it.
On hearing the screams of the injured, security personnel and locals swung into action to rescue persons trapped in the debris. Senior officials, including the CP and the divisional commissioner, reached the spot. Entry of devotees in Kashi Vishwanath Dham was stopped through gate no. 4 in view of the incident, as Pancho Pandva area is very close to the KV Dham campus and falls under the yellow zone (outer security cordon of Kashi Vishwanath temple). As a result, the pressure of crowd comprising Kanwariyas and pilgrims increased at other entry points of the shrine area.
NDRF DIG Manoj Kumar Sharma said his team reached with portable machines and cutters, after which the process of removing debris was intensified and injured people were rescued.
When the rescue operation ended, the process of removing debris continued under the supervision of JCP K Ejilearassane, who also asked officials to ensure all other dilapidated buildings in neighbouring areas are evacuated to avoid threats to people, especially women and children dwelling there.
PM Narendra Modi took note of the incident of the collapse of two houses in his Varanasi parliamentary constituency. Divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma said that in a telephonic conversation, PM sought details of the incident and rescue operation carried out. PM directed officials to ensure best possible treatment of injured people and condoled the demise of a woman in the incident, said the commissioner.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also took stock of the incident. CMO’s X post stated that CM had sought details of the rescue operation and asked officials to ensure proper treatment of injured persons.
Moreover, after inspecting the site, municipal commissioner Akshat Verma said Varanasi Municipal Corporation had already issued two notices on Jan 23, 2015, and Dec 2, 2015, to building owner Asha Devi and her sons—Anoop Kumar, Virendra Kumar, and Ajit Kumar—to demolish the dilapidated building as soon as possible. The notice stated clearly that the building was dilapidated and dangerous, and the owner would be solely responsible for any incident or accident. Despite the notices, the building owner did not take action for safety, possibly due to a tenancy dispute pending in court. On July 5, a notice was also served on Ramesh Gupta, who currently lived in this building that collapsed on Tuesday early morning.
According to the VMC, there are 404 dilapidated buildings within the municipal limits and notices had been issued to all building owners under Section 331 of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1959, to demolish them. However, it is often observed that due to disputes between landlords and tenants, the matter goes to court. The municipal commissioner said for the safety of general public, a committee comprising district administration, police, development authority and municipal corporation would be formed to take necessary action after a joint inspection of all dilapidated buildings in the city.
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