Chennai:
The toll in the Chennai building collapse has risen to 20, even as two more construction workers were rescued from the debris on June 30. An under-construction multi-storey building collapsed on June 28, leading to the arrest of six persons including two owners and two
engineers.
Massive non-stop relief efforts continued for the third day in an attempt to rescue over 50 persons are said to be trapped under the 8,000-tonne debris of the 11-storey building.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa increased the assistance to the families of four persons from the State who died in the collapse from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 7 lakh each.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) continued the rescue operations despite intermittent rains. Nearly 25 persons who sustained injuries in the collapse were undergoing treatment at nearby hospitals. Most of them were expected to be discharged by July 2, while those who sustained fractures would have to be in hospital for two more weeks.
Jayalalithaa visited the building collapse site at Moulivakkam in Chennai on Sunday. She told mediapersons that 72 workers were in the building when it collapsed on Saturday and 20 of them were rescued. 11 bodies were recovered from the debris.
She said the building collapsed due to a structural defect, adding that the builder had violated various norms.
"The authorities have been asked to make a soil test to find out the stability of the existing building," she said. "Our priority is to rescue as many lives as possible at this point," she added.
Jayalalithaa, who reached the spot at 6.15 p.m, was briefed on the rescue operations by revenue administration, disaster management and mitigation commissioner T S Sridhar, DGP Ramanujam and Chennai city police commissioner S George.
She ordered the district administration in Kancheepuram to ensure medical treatment to the injured and arrange for their safe return home at government expense.
Later, she visited the injured at Sri Ramchandra Medical College and University and handed over cheques for Rs 50,000 to each injured person. She had announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the bereaved families but raised it to Rs seven lakh each on Monday.
The rescued workers were identified as Meenammal from Andhra Pradesh and Govind from Odisha. Police said that they did not carry any external injury. They were rushed to Sri Ramachandra Medical College and University.
Meenammal told the rescuers that many of her co-workers were still alive near the place where she was lying, waiting for someone to rescue them.
The NDRF team and police were trying to rescue the construction workers trapped in the debris.
DIG (South), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), S.P. Selvan, said rescue operations were on in full swing though there were intermittent rains. The building had collapsed on Saturday evening, with about 50 people trapped inside. Six persons, including two owners and two engineers, had been arrested under various sections of the IPC.
On Sunday, the police arrested six persons — including the managing director and senior engineers of Prime Sristi Housing Private Limited — who were directly involved in the construction of the ‘Trust Heights’ residential apartments.
The police, in a statement, said preliminary investigation revealed there was no coordination between the architect, structural engineers and site engineers over the execution of the residential project.
