Ludhiana: Negligence of school, contractor endangered lives of 600 students

A social studies teacher, Ravinder Kaur, lost her life and another was injured after the roof of the school’s staff room collapsed, leaving the teachers and students traumatised. The incident revealed the lack of preventive measures during the construction process

The safety of 600 students at the Government Senior Secondary School in Baddowal was compromised due to the alleged negligence of the school management and the contractor responsible for the ongoing construction work in the building.

Police team disperses the locals gathered near the school building after roof collapsed incident in Ludhiana on Wednesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

A social studies teacher, Ravinder Kaur, lost her life and another was injured after the roof of the school’s staff room collapsed, leaving the teachers and students traumatised. The incident revealed the lack of preventive measures during the construction process.

Villagers rushed to the school after the incident. Expressing distress, they said that the contractor had carelessly piled up bricks on the corners of the second-floor roof, leading to the tragedy.

They further said that while some blocks in the school were recently constructed with the assistance of locals, the main building had not undergone any repair or reconstruction. Presently, the government is constructing additional rooms on the already dilapidated structure.

Narinder Singh Sekhon, 63, an alumnus of the school, said that despite the locals’ involvement in the construction work, the authorities overlooked the need to address the safety concerns of the students. It is alarming that the contractor was allowed to add more pressure on the 73-year-old building without any intervention from the officers or school staff.

Ravneet Bittu, Congress MP from Ludhiana, raised questions on the ongoing construction work.

“Why the officials and school staff failed to prevent the contractor from piling up bricks on the roof, endangering the stability of the entire structure,” he said.

The newly-transferred school principal, Manila Arora, acknowledged her limited knowledge about the construction details as she had joined recently. She assured that the incident would be thoroughly investigated to hold the responsible parties accountable for compromising the safety of the students.