DHARWAD: Urban Development Minister U T Khader on Saturday said seven HDMC officials have been suspended in connection with the building collapse at Kumareshwar Nagar in Dharwad, which has so far claimed 15 lives.After going through rescue efforts, the minister told reporters here on Saturday that there has been a law in place that directs builders to have enough space around the structure for the movement of emergency vehicles. This rule seems to have violated here. Hence, the government has ordered suspension of officials. It is also thinking of implementing rules in a positive manner in the coming days.
The suspended officials include Town Planner Mukund Joshi, Assistant Director (City Planning) Ashok Gadag, zonal officer of revenue section Prabhakar Doddamani, executive engineer V Shridhar, Assistant Executive Engineer Chandrappa, City Planning Department Deputy Director B V Hiremath and Assistant Commissioner Santosh Anishettar.
On Friday, owners of the ill-fated building Ganganna Shintri, father-in-law of Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni, Ravi Sabarad and Basavaraj Nigadi and Mahabaleshwar Puradagudi were arrested by the police. Vivek Pawar, the architect of the building, has also been arrested by the police.
The civic experts in the twin cities are now calling for a resurvey of all new and under-construction commercial establishments and residential apartments. The incident has invited wrath against engineers from all quarters and the government too has taken the case seriously.“In fact, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has offered to conduct an inquiry of highest level. The local administration must hand over the investigation to an independent agency for a transparent probe,” said an expert.
Meanwhile, netizens have launched a series of allegation against the state government for providing just `2 lakh compensation for the kin of the deceased. Posts comparing the compensation amount in tragedies in South Karnataka and North Karnataka were shared on social media.