BENGALURU: Pre-monsoon showers in the city claimed the life of a daily wager on Friday night as heavy rains led to a wall collapsing on a shed. Mahantesh (26 ) was killed on the spot while three others from his family were injured. The incident took place in Chennammanakere Achchukattu near Basavanagudi in South Bengaluru on Saturday.
Mahantesh was a native of Chincholi in Kalaburagi district. They were living in a shed at ITI Layout and working at a construction site. The family was staying in the shed for the last three months.A police officer said the incident occurred at 1.45am when the wall adjacent to an under construction site fell. Mahantesh was stuck under debris and his wife Parvathi (22) and relatives Sharanappa, (34) and Shobha, (27) were rushed to Victoria Hospital. Goutham, (19), who escaped with minor injuries, said, “Five of us slept in the shed and there was water logging at the site. Around midnight, the wall collapsed and I ran from the shed. I started screaming and residents rushed to help us. My sister Parvathi had married Mahantesh a year ago and we all came to work here.”
“The construction site belongs to Chitti Babu, a localite and the mason Mahesh Babu had built the shed which is unfit to live in. A case has been filed against them,” C K Achchukattu police said.BBMP mayor R Sampath Raj visited the spot and announced `5 lakh compensation to the family. BBMP will also pay medical expenses of the injured — two of whom were discharged from the hospital.Santhosh Kumar, an eye-witness said, “Police alerted the ambulance service while I called fire personnel. Nobody came out due to heavy rain.”
Previous incidents
May 14: Abdul Karim (47), a resident of Austin Town died when a wall crashed on him at Johnson Market due to heavy rain. Zaman Raza (12) tried to save him, but he too was killed.
May 16: Sharana Basappa (20), a labourer from Raichur, was trapped and died under a mud wall at a construction site on Old Madras Road. The wall had weakened due to rainfall.
September 30: Raja (36), a daily-wage labourer died after the wall of a building adjacent to his home collapsed on him when he was sleeping, due to heavy rainfall at Sadarmangala.
October 13: Kamalamma and her husband Shankarappa, both in their forties, died when a wall of their house at Kurubarahalli collapsed on them. The incident occurred as they were pouring out water from their home using buckets.