Dera Bassi building collapse: Owner hired unskilled labour, says SDM’s report

Initially, a contractor was hired for the construction work in the building in February this year, but later his services appear to have been discontinued as Hardev Singh hired unskilled labourers after the March lockdown

Nearly two months after a building collapsed in Meera Milli Mohalla near the Ramlila Ground here, killing four persons, a report by the Dera Bassi subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Kuldeep Bawa has revealed that building owner Haridev Singh, who also died in the mishap, had hired unskilled labourers for construction and changed them every three days.

Rescuers look for bodies in the rubble of a building that collapsed in Dera Bassi on September 24. A report from the sub divisional magistrate Kuldeep Singh Bawa has revealed that the building owner had hired unskilled labourers for construction work in the building.(HT file photo)

Initially, a contractor was hired for the construction work in the building in February this year, but later his services appear to have been discontinued as Haridev Singh, 72, hired unskilled labourers after the March lockdown, changing them after every three days or so, the report said.

Without a contractor, the labourers could not carry out the work efficiently in the 50-year-old building, the ground floor of which had been constructed. It was being renovated while the second floor was being built, with three shops to be opened there.

The report also stated that all drawings had been approved for construction and that civic body officials had visited the site before construction started.

On the stability of the structure, the report said the building was of 330 square feet (sq ft) and a structure stability report was required for buildings of more than 500 sq ft.

Bawa also said a technical expert could explain how the main pillar collapsed as the plumbing pipe was not removed and shuttering was done.

The mishap occurred on September 24. While the owner and three labourers were on site, three other labourers were working around the building when the structure suddenly caved in around 9.30am, trapping the four men inside.

The bodies of the three labourers were recovered from the debris in a three-hour operation. They were identified as Gopi Chand, 60, Raju, 46, and Ramesh Sardara, 45, all migrants. Haridev Singh succumbed to his injuries at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, Chandigarh.