THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Revenue minister E Chandrasekharan has directed district collectors to keep a strict vigil on construction activities in the state during rainy season, in the wake of
Pangappara
tragedy. The minister visited the site here on Tuesday where four labourers had died after earth caved in during construction of a retaining wall. The minister said that the excavation was being conducted violating safety norms.
Instructions had earlier been given to collectors to make sure that guidelines to prevent disasters in construction sectors are complied with. The minister has directed the collectors to conduct safety inspections at the construction sites. Revenue officials have been asked to consider complaints on unauthorised construction activities with all seriousness. The minister also visited the labourers who were admitted to medical college hospital here with injuries.
Meanwhile, district collector
S Venkatesapathy
submitted his preliminary report on the accident on Tuesday. The collector said that prima facie there have been safety violations. The excavation was done without providing retaining wall or terracing. Besides the earth was carved in vertical steps which was illegal, especially when back-walling was not done. The collector has also sought a detailed report from department of geology and city corporation to find out if there have been other violations. He will conduct a review meeting of the departments concerned in two days.
The city corporation will serve evacuation notices to three families whose houses are precariously perched on the tip of the plot. With showers gaining strength, fire safety officials and police have warned about chances of earth caving in again and it could pose danger to the houses.
Meanwhile, Sudarshanan, the labourer who was seriously injured in the accident, is recuperating in the orthopaedic ICU at the medical college hospital.
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