Bengaluru man who lost wife, child in pillar collapse recalls tragic moment

Bengaluru metro pillar collapse: The incident took place on Tuesday morning.

Bengaluru grapples with multiple civic issues. On Tuesday, however, the city registered a tragedy it won't forget for long when two lives were lost following the collapse of an under construction metro pillar. A woman and her 2.5 years old child died while her husband and daughter were injured. All four members of the family were passing by the site on a bike when the tragedy struck.

The reinforcement cage of an under construction metro pillar collapses in Bengaluru,(PTI)

They would not have anticipated that they were riding for the last time together. "My wife and children were travelling with me on a bike," the man was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "I was about to drop them off while on my way to office when in matter of fraction of seconds, the accident happened. I've lost everything. Safety should be ensured so that such incidents don't occur again," he said, putting out an appeal and sharing his grief.

The woman's father has made a fervent appeal to take action against the contractor concerned. Her father-in-law had earlier demanded the construction work should be stopped immediately. "The contractor in charge of the Metro pillar construction clearly didn't take safety measures. The construction activity should be stopped immediately because it is running without safety," he said. "If a bus or some other vehicle carrying passengers would have crossed that point, there could have been more casualties. Our world has been destroyed. I demand the government to provide safety measures at the construction sites," he added.

A probe has been launched into the incident while the state government has announced a compensation of ₹20 lakh for the family. "A first information report (FIR) has been filed against five unknown persons in metro pillar collapse case at Govindapura police station," police has said. Site engineers, metro contractors, site-in-charge officers, BMRCL officers, and others have been included, as per the FIR.

Meanwhile, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) has also said that notices have been issued to the contractors and engineers concerned. "Notices are being issued to the contractor and the concerned Engineers. 11Sc will be requested to investigate and provide a report. An internal technical team will also investigate the matter," a statement underlined.

The Congress has stepped up its attack on the ruling government over the incident.

(With inputs from ANI)