NOIDA: Tragedy struck a residential township in Noida Sector 21 when four persons lost their lives and nine were rescued after a boundary wall collapsed during the cleaning of a drain on Tuesday morning.
All 12 who had been buried under the rubble at Jal Vayu Vihar in Sector 21 around 10 am were labourers.
As per the Noida administration, a total of 13 people were carrying out drain cleaning work adjacent to the wall when it collapsed in Jal Vayur Vihar residential township around 10:15 am.
The drain cleaning work was being undertaken by workers hired by the Noida Authority, said sources.
Multiple JCBs were deployed to clear the debris of the collapsed stretch of the wall that was located adjacent to a drain, officials said as police and fire department personnel swung into action for immediate rescue and relief measures.
Hours after the tragedy, a sub-contractor Gul Mohammad, who had supplied labourers to the contractor of the society, was arrested from Sector 20.
The arrest was made on the basis of one of the victim's family's complaints, said the Gautam Buddha Nagar police.
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The chief executive officer (CEO) of the Noida, Ritu Maheshwari, announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each of the deceased's kin.
On the contractor being cautioned by locals that the boundary wall was weak, the Noida Authority CEO told PTI that the matter would be investigated.
"A joint investigation by the police, the district administration and the Noida Authority will be carried out and if negligence is found on anybody's part then action would be taken against them. The contractor was working on the drain and not the boundary wall," Maheshwari clarified.
According to officials of the Noida Authority, the wall was constructed by Jal Vayu Vihar Sahkari Avas Samiti around 25-30 years back.
Noida district magistrate Suhas LY said that the labourers had been given a contract for drainage repair work near the residential township. “We've been told that when the labourers were pulling out bricks, the wall collapsed. It will be probed,” said the DM.
The injured are being treated at the district hospital and the Kailash Hospital nearby.
Expressing grief over the loss of lives, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed senior officers to reach the spot, the Chief Minister's Office said.
Noida MLA Pankaj Singh called for action against the guilty over the housing society's wall collapse.
The BJP leader also assured extending all possible help to the families of the victims.
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