Six labourers were crushed to death and five seriously injured on Sunday after a wall of an under-construction rice-sheller collapsed at Lakhanpur village in Khamano sub-division of Fatehgarh Sahib district.
The Incident took place around 10 am when 15 labourers were working at the site. The debris fell on 11 workers. Preliminary investigation revealed that poor quality material was used in construction, leading to the collapse.
“Four labourers were killed on the spot while two others succumbed to their injuries at the hospital,” said Fatehgarh Sahib DC Shivdular Singh Dhillon, who along with SSP Alka Meena, visited the spot. The deceased have been identified as Jagjit Singh, Manjit Singh, residents of Lakhanpur village, Premshawar (a migrant from Bihar), Raghvir Singh of Farour village and Ranvir Singh and Harpreet Singh, both residents of Dhuri.
The others were rushed to a Khamano hospital from where five critically injured were rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector Sector 32.
The rescue operation that lasted for about three hours was supervised by Khamano sub-divisional magistrate Paramjit Singh SHO Navdeep Singh.
{{/usCountry}}The rescue operation that lasted for about three hours was supervised by Khamano sub-divisional magistrate Paramjit Singh SHO Navdeep Singh.
{{/usCountry}}Bassi Pathana MLA Gurpreet Singh reached the site and demanded action against the owners of rice mill as structure was unsafe.
SSP Meena said prima facie, negligence on part of the contractor and the owner has come to light. The foundation of rice mill was just one- and-a-half-feet deep and it failed to bear the weight of construction and collapsed.
She said that a case under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to death) of the IPC has been registered against Rajesh Kumar and Himanshu Bansal of Dhuri, owners of the mill, and contactor Avtar Singh Bhola. The accused are on the run. The administration has also asked the PWD department to ascertain the exact reason of the collapse. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh while expressing grief over the tragedy announced Rs one lakh ex gratia to the families of deceased.