Dharwad building collapse: 7 officials suspended

Hubballi: The government on Saturday suspended seven officers holding them responsible for the collapse of a five-storey building in Dharwad which has killed 16 people. Till Saturday, the fifth day of the rescue operations, 61 people have been pulled out alive from under the debris.

Zonal-3 assistant commissioner of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Santosh Anisettar, town planning assistant director Ashok Gadag, town planner Mukund Joshi, executive engineer V. Sridhar, assistant executive engineer Chandrappa, revenue zonal officer Prabhakar and planning department additional director B.V. Hiremath are the suspended officers. The government took the decision based on a report submitted by Deputy Commissioner Deepa Cholan to the urban development department after an investigation.

Meanwhile, owners of the building, Basavaraj Nidhi and Gangappa Sinthre, who is the father-in-law of Congress leader and former minister Vinay Kulkarni, were admitted to Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) after they complained of chest pain. Dharwad JMFC court has handed over these accused, including their partners Mahabaleshwar, Ravi Sabarad and engineer Vivek Pawar, to police custody.

Rescue operations continued for the fifth day on Saturday. NDRF and other agencies have rescued 61 people and extracted 16 bodies from the debris so far. According to reports, it is suspected that at least seven people are still under the debris.

Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwar, who visited the site, said rules for granting permission for the construction of buildings should be modified. He said that the building collapsed as the norms were not adhered to, and that inspection of all buildings will be conducted to prevent such tragedies.

"The civil engineers and owners are responsible for its collapse and death of people. They are already under police custody and action will be taken against them after obtaining the investigation report. Officials should write the names of politicians while giving completion certificate (CC) if they bring pressure on them to get the clearance," he said. Urban Development Minister U.T. Khader and Water Resource Minister D.K. Shivakumar also inspected the site of collapse.