Toll in Bengaluru building collapse rises to five as two more bodies are found in rubble
Seven builders and the architect who designed the structure were charged with culpable homicide by the city’s police on Thursday.
Two more bodies were found amid the rubble on Thursday after an under-construction building in Bengaluru collapsed on Wednesday, The Times of India reported, bringing the toll from the incident to five. Three people had been reported dead after the multi-storey structure collapsed in Bellandur locality on Wednesday.
Seven builders and the architect who designed the building were charged with culpable homicide by the Bengaluru Police on Thursday. According to Mayor G Padmavathi, the building collapsed because of the use of “substandard materials” in its construction. Padmavathi said that officials of the city’s civic body – the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike – “were hand in glove with the owner” and had allowed an extra floor to be constructed.
However, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad said a proposed amendment to the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act will ensure three months’ imprisonment for those officials who allow such irregularities in constructions, The New Indian Express reported. He added that the civic body had asked ward engineers “to inspect all the under construction buildings and submit a report” within 10 days.
The collapse of the building comes even as civic authorities in the state capital continue a demolition drive against illegal constructions that have come up on Bengaluru’s storm-water drain networks. Residents have protested against the demolition drive, which the civic officials say is necessary to set up more drains. According to BBMP officials, the drains will prevent flooding in the city. In July, the city came to a standstill after 15 hours of heavy rainfall.