HYDERABAD: In what could have been a major tragedy, a 40-feet high boundary wall collapsed and the debris came crashing down all the way from the hill, uprooting trees, disrupting electric lines and damaging at least seven cars at Journalists’ Colony in Jubilee Hills Saturday.
Initially, the residents mistook it for an earthquake and some of them even rushed out of their houses to safety. Though there was no casualty in the incident, residents of the colony are living in constant fear as a portion of the perimeter wall still stands precariously on shaky ground. In all, seven cars and two bikes were completely deformed under the debris.
At around 3.45 am on Saturday, the boundary wall of a house at road number 70, in Journalists Colony, built atop a hill, came crashing down on to the road. The house is owned by K Usha Rani and Ravi Shankar. A GHMC Park is located nearby.
Many houses near the park were damaged, while some portions of the houses got covered with debris. An IAS officer working with Andhra Pradesh Endowments Department also resides in one of the houses.
Being at a height, chunks of the broken wall came tumbling down for more than 50 feet down to the road. The debris buried the park and completely damaged cars and bikes parked in the lane. Part of a house located opposite to the park felt the impact.
As the incident occurred in the wee hours of Saturday, none were on the streets which averted a tragedy.
“I heard some sounds and peeped out of the window to see the wall crumbling down. After a few minutes it collapsed completely. I couldn’t figure out what was happening and shouted to alert the residents. Some others also woke up and raised an alarm. The trees, and electric poles, stopped the impact to an extent,” said P Yadagiri, who works as the watchman of a house in the lane.
“We heard loud sounds at about 4.00 a.m. Our car was completely destroyed,” said T Kiran, who works at an office here. Pointing to remains of the boundary wall which is hanging, residents said that it should be brought down to avoid any further mishap. They demanded the government officials to measure the strength of walls which are built on high ground.
Jubilee Hills Police said, the house to which the perimeter wall belonged, was unoccupied. “There are no casualties. We registered a case under IPC Section 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others),” said S Venkat Reddy, inspector of Jubilee Hills Police station.