CHENNAI: A wall collapse in Pattalam led to the death of a 23-year-old besides injuring his mother here on Sunday.
Police said that Raji (23) died and his mother Radhabai (58) suffered head injury after a dilapidated building wall collapsed on their cement sheet roof house Others staying in the same complex of the affected house had a narrow escape as they were out to work.
There were 11 families living next to the dilapidated building, and most of them were dhobis (washermen/ washerwomen), so they had left for work before the wall collapsed. The residents alleged that the dilapidated building owner ignored their plea to demolish the building as it was in bad shape and could collapse anytime after heavy rains.
Raji and his mother Radhabai were asleep when the wall collapsed around 4.30 am. Raji, who got stuck in the debris died on the spot, while his mother suffered head injury and leg fracture and had been admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for treatment.
The incident damaged around six houses in the complex. “I was fast asleep when I heard a loud noise. I could not see anything in the mist and dust. I had to grab my two little sons and wife, jump in to the next campus of our house and come out,” said Srinivasan, whose house also was partly damaged in the wall collapse.
“We had been warning the house owner about the building but he ignored. After the rains, broken pieces from the wall started falling on our cement sheet roof, but he ignored it. Now one life has been lost, and the person responsible is yet to be arrested,” said one of the residents, whose house also damaged.
There was no arrest till late evening. The dilapidated building was ignored due toa property dispute in the family. Doctors said, Radhabai had a cut on her forehead, got four sutures and her condition was stable.
Mother Loses Her Sole Breadwinner
Chennai: Raji, a B.Com graduate, was the only son of his mother and after his elder sister got married last year, the responsibility of taking care of his mother fell on his shoulders, say family members. Raji, who graduated from Presidency College, joined a call centre in Guindy. “Their father abandoned the family many years ago.Their mother, a house maid, had to struggle to educate her children. With the help of her elder brother, Radhabai raised her two children,” said Narayanaswamy, Raji’s uncle.