The Hindu       10.09.2014  

Building collapse: Municipal Engineer, overseer suspended

The Regional Director for Municipal Administration has placed under suspension the engineer and the overseer of Shencottah municipality in connection with the recent building collapse in which three labourers were killed on the spot.

When the first floor of a 35-year-old commercial complex of the municipality was being demolished by a team of 14 labourers on Saturday (September 6) as the urban local body had planned to construct a new edifice in the place, the structure suddenly crashed killing N. Muthukumar (27), K. Rajkumar (30) and K. Ganapathi alias Balaiah (29), all from Kathiravan Colony near Shencottah.

Four more labourers sustained injuries in the accident and were rushed to the Tenkasi Government Hospital.

Alleging that the three were killed as no precautionary measure was taken and no modern machinery was given to them, a group of people and the relatives of the deceased staged a road roko near the accident site. They also demanded adequate compensation for the victims’ families.

Since the agitation was staged on the Tirunelveli–Kollam Main Road, hundreds of vehicles lined up on both sides for over five hours since 5.30 p.m.

As the Shencottah municipality and the police officials could not resolve the crisis even after 9 p.m., Superintendent of Police (in-charge) T.P. Sureshkumar rushed to the spot with additional police force.

Accepting Mr. Sureshkumar’s assurance that their demand for Rs.8 lakh as compensation and a government job to the family of each of the deceased would be forwarded to the government, the protestors allowed the police to send the bodies for post-mortem.

Against this backdrop, Regional Director for Municipal Administration M. Seeni Ajmal Khan after enquiries placed under suspension Engineer of Shencottah Municipality K. Ramesh and Overseer Anantharamakrishnan on Tuesday.