Police have arrested at least three people in connection with last night’s collapse of a six-storey building that crashed on to another adjacent structure killing at least three people. A senior police officer said that the owner of the land, Gangashankar Dwivedi, and two others — Dinesh and Sanjay — had been arrested
Many are believed to be trapped the six-storey under-construction site collapsed in Shah Beri village under Bisrakh police station limits of Great Noida in Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of Tuesday.
An FIR under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 388 (extortion by threat of accusation of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) were lodged at the Bisrakh police station against 18 persons in connection with the incident, said Inspector General of Police, Meerut Zone, Ram Kumar was quoted a saying by PTI.
Several people were still believed to be trapped under the debris even as members of National Disaster Response Force, around 400 of them, have launched the rescue operations.
Chief Fire Officer Arun Kumar Singh said at least 12 labourers were inside the building at the time of the incident and all of them are were trapped.
A report by ANI had earlier said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had taken cognisance of the incident and has asked the District Magistrate to take up relief measures with the NDRF and Police to ensure immediate rescue.
“As of now we don’t know what happened, it is too early to say anything in that regard. Our motive right now is to save any life that is left. Rescue operations by NDRF are underway,” Kumar Vineet, ADM, Gautam Budh Nagar was quoted by news agency ANI.
Union Minister Mahesh Sharma, who’s also the local MP, said, “Our priority right now is to save any life that is left. 12 ambulances are present here & all the hospitals nearby have been alerted. NDRF teams & dog squads are also present on the spot.”
Rescue dogs, two hydraulic cranes and six bulldozers have been pressed into service to rescue the people trapped inside the debris.
An official told IANS that both the building had been built illegally and construction work on one had been completed after which a dozen families had shifted in it. The other was still under-construction.
Heavy machinery has been brought in to clear the debris. Drilling machines are being used to remove metal rods so that the debris can be cleared and the people trapped be reached.
Residents here have long complained of small time builders entering the construction business while repeatedly flouting the building norms. Not so long ago, two labourers from Bihar had died after they fell into a lift hole of an under-construction building in the same village.