Pelhar wall collapse: Contractor arrested, land owners booked

The labourers who were ordered by Hamid Chowdhary to move construction material upstairs for the construction work, were trapped under the debris after the wall collapsed while they were constructing illegal buildings inside the compound

MUMBAI: A day after a 30-year-old labourer died and five others were seriously injured after an under-construction building wall fell on them on Tuesday evening in Pelhar in Vasai East, the Pelhar police on Wednesday arrested the building contractor and booked the owners.

Pelhar wall collapse: Contractor arrested, land owners booked

The incident occurred when the labourers were working at the site where an illegal godown was being constructed. The police officers said that the incident took place around 6pm however it took the fire brigade at least two hours to reach the spot which was located at the Chaudhary Compound in Vakan Pada in Pelhar.

According to the police officers, the six labourers were working at the site when a wall of the structure suddenly collapsed trapping them under the debris. The locals and the other 14 labourers who were at the site rushed the injured men to the Platinum Hospital in Vasai East where one of them - Dasrath Gopal Lahange, 30, was declared dead on arrival.

“The labourers who were ordered by Hamid Chowdhary to move construction material upstairs for the construction work, were trapped under the debris after the wall collapsed while they were constructing illegal buildings inside the compound,” said a police officer from Pelhar police station.

The police said that the owners Hamid and Rafiq Ahmed Chowdhary had not taken any permission to construct the structure on the plot. The contractor Lakshman Baraf who had hired the workers was arrested by the police for allegedly not taking any safety precautions for the labourers. The injured--Shailesh Shingada 19, Ramu Maghi 25, Kalpesh Nadge 19, and Bharat Dumada 19--were admitted to Apex Hospital in Waliv in Vasai East.

The locals said that even after informing, the fire brigade team took at least two hours to reach the spot and begin rescue work. “The fire brigade carried on the rescue operation till 11pm on Tuesday with the help of mobile flash-lights, as they did not have proper lighting arrangement at the sight,” said a local.