BENGALURU: A building under construction collapsed in north Bengaluru's Babusapalya on Tuesday, leaving one person dead. The incident occurred around 4pm, amidst the ongoing heavy rainfall in most parts of the city.
"Approximately 20 people were trapped. One body has been recovered, 14 workers have been rescued and five are still missing," D Devaraja, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Bengaluru) told media.
Two rescue vans from the fire and emergency department have been pressed into rescue operations.
The seven-storey building was constructed without due permissions from the city corporation.
One side of the building has tilted on a labour shed, where many other people are said to be trapped, said a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike engineer from the site.
Soon after the incident was reported, officials from Hennur Police, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and fire and emergency rushed to spot to rescue the stranded and take stock of the situation.
A BBMP official said the building belonged to Munirajju, a realtor. They said his phone was switched off and he was said to be untraceable, soon after the incident happened.
Fearing for the lives of the workers trapped inside, their relatives are in shock and have appealed to the teams to rescue their near and dear ones.
Due to traffic in the surroundings and rains, the rescue operations are becoming a bit challenging, said an official.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar visited the spot and took stock of the situation. He said that out of the 14 rescued, seven were in the hospital.
Shivakumar said the building was illegal and strict action will be taken in this matter.
"I have been told that there was no permission and illegal activities were going on. We will take strict action against the owner, contractors and everyone (of the alleged building).
In the entire Bengaluru, we will see to it that we come up with a decision. Wherever such illegal constructions are going on, we will stop it immediately. I will conduct a big survey on this," he told reporters here.
"We will stop all these illegal constructions and I will also instruct the registrars to not accept the transfer of such illegal properties which have no plan sanctions. We will take strict action against this," the deputy chief minister added.
Holidays for schools
The Bengaluru Urban district administration has declared holiday for schools on Wednesday in view of the heavy rains.
In a statement, the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban Jagadish G as said the decision has been taken as a precautionary measure and in the interest of students. However, all the colleges and ITIs will function as usual.
This is the third time in two weeks the district administration has issued orders to close schools due to heavy rainfall warnings. The orders, issued on Tuesday, followed an orange alert from IMD for the next 24 hours in the city.
Jagadeesha said that the rain and flooding situation is being monitored daily, with directions being issued accordingly.
Earlier, schools were closed from October 15 to October 16, a period that included the government holiday for Valmiki Jayanti.
A second set of orders was issued on October 21, early in the morning, citing heavy downpours. However, since the orders were issued late, many schools continued operations.
This time, the closure orders were issued in advance due to the anticipated heavy rainfall.
Officials in the DC's office noted that this is the first instance of multiple closure orders being issued within such a short span.
Meanwhile, increased cases of flooding have been reported in the city's outskirts, including the IT-BT corridor. Many tech professionals have reported being stranded at their workplaces or while commuting. In response, several companies have advised employees to work from home.
IT-BT Minister issues Work-From-Home advisory
The heavy rainfall and the IMD's orange alert also led to IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge advising companies to allow employees to work from home.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, he said that a similar advisory was issued last week.
Kharge remarked that it is unusual for densely populated Bengaluru to receive such frequent weather alerts from the IMD, and such warnings have not been issued in recent years with such regularity.
The advisory aims to prioritise the safety of citizens.
With inputs from PTI)