Egmore sub-post office ceiling caves in

Chennai: The concrete ceiling of a room in Egmore sub-post office on Kennet Lane collapsed on Monday evening when workers from the civil wing were engaged in renovation work. Nobody was injured.

Around 3.30 pm, a slab, measuring 8 feet in length, fell on the staircase leading to the fourth floor, a few metres away from the dormitories where the railway mail service staff stay. Personnel from the Tamil Nadu fire and rescue services rushed to the spot and helped clear the debris.

“We heard a loud thud and found the slab lying on the stairway. Thankfully, that side of the building has not been used by the staff for a long time now and the door near our rooms, which lead to the stairs, is always kept closed,” an employee said.

The building, which was inaugurated in July 1985, has many cracks and is under renovation. According to a senior official of the postal department, work began on Monday and the labourers were working in the area where the mishap occurred. “We immediately asked the workers to stop work after the incident,” he said.

The employees and staff who reside in the dormitories on the third floor also complained of the bad condition of the rooms, expressing panic over the weak structure above their heads. “There are cracks in the ceilings and on the walls. They can fall any time,” a staff member said.