Kolkata man dies in roof collapse in Punjab’s Kharar

Villagers managed to pull the victim out and rushed him to the civil hospital, where he was declared brought dead; no one else was hurt

A 35 -year-old man from Kolkata, who was on a visit to his uncle’s house here, died after the mud roof of his house collapsed in Mamupur village of Gharuan, Kharar, on Saturday.

The other members of the family were outside when the mishap took place. (HT Photo)

The deceased has been identified as Varinder Singh.

Station house officer of Gharuan, Shamsher Singh, said that the victim and his mother were on a visit to the house of Rashpal Singh, Varinder’s maternal uncle. When the incident took place at around 2.30pm, the other family members were sitting outside the house.

The villagers managed to pull the victim out and rushed him to Kharar civil hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Singh said the body has been kept at civil hospital’s mortuary and Varinder’s other family members will arrive from Kolkata on Monday.

Sub-divisional magistrate of Kharar, Himanshu Jain, said the house had a kacha roof which collapsed as it got weak over time. The man died of suffocation after getting trapped under the debris. Noone else was injured. The family has refused to get a postmortem conducted, said Jain.

Harmohan Singh Sandhu, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in-charge of Sri Chamkaur Sahib, has demanded better housing for the financially-backward. He alleged that the state government has not released funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and sought full compensation for the victim’s family.