HYDERABAD: The heavy downpour that lashed parts of Telangana on Tuesday led to the death of at least 16 people — 12 in Hyderabad and four in Sangareddy district.
Of these six migrant construction workers and a four-year-old child were killed when a wall collapsed on them in Bachupally on the outskirts of the city. Seven more construction workers were injured in the incident. They were from Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the body of a missing 19-year-old B.Tech student Yeshwanth was retrieved by EV&DM personnel from the Ghatkesar lake. Rescue operations were underway at the lake, which falls under the Pocharam police jurisdiction, since Tuesday morning.
The bodies found in the Begumpet nala were identified to be that of Mittu Das (45) and his roommate Krushna Chandra Panda. The police said that they fell into the nala after consuming alcohol.
Meanwhile, Fakruddin (50), a fruit vendor from Bahadurpura, and Devendra Kumar Yadav (33), a native of Bihar, who was running a tea shop in Chandanagar died of electric shock.
In Sangareddy, two labourers, hailing from East and West Godavari districts, lost their lives in Rayalapur village of Kaudipalli mandal when a wall collapsed on them. Two farmers were struck by lightning in Andole and Siddipet areas.
‘Builder didn’t follow safety measures’
The officials identified the victims of the wall collapse at Bachupally as Ram Yadav (34) his wife Gitabal (32) and their son Himanshu (4) from Chhattisgarh, Tirupathi (23) and Sankar Deb Goud (18) from Odisha and Bindresh Bhavani Chauhan (30) and his wife Khushi (20) from Maharashtra.
Joint Commissioner of Labour, Rangareddy Zone, L Chaturvedi said that the incident happened at an under-construction apartment in Nizampet Corporation limits. Builder V Arvind Reddy did not follow the proper safety measures, Chaturvedi said, adding that action would be taken as per the rules.
Financial aid to be given
The Labour department will hand over Rs 50,000 financial assistance and Rs 30,000 for conducting the last rites to the kin of each victim. Though the incident happened late on Tuesday, the locals noticed the bodies on Wednesday morning. The police pressed into service men and machinery to clear the debris and recover the bodies.