At least 23 individuals had been killed and over 15 injured when a roof at a crematorium in Muradnagar, Ghaziabad district, collapsed on Sunday midday. Around 50 individuals had been current for the cremation of Jai Ram, 55, a vegetable vendor, and all those that died had been his family or acquaintances.
The curved roof was constructed simply two months in the past over a path resulting in the platform the place cremations are carried out. A senior police officer mentioned the mourners had been providing prayers when the construction collapsed, burying them beneath concrete. All the useless had been males, and most of them belonged to Muradnagar’s Sangam Vihar space. Most of the injured are important, a senior police officer mentioned.
SP (Rural) Ghaziabad Iraj Raja mentioned an FIR has been registered towards Muradnagar Nagar Palika Executive Officer Niharika Singh, Junior Engineer Chandra Pal, contractor Ajay Tyagi, and ‘supervisor’ Ashish, beneath Sections 304 (culpable murder not amounting to homicide), 337 (damage), 338 (grievous damage), 427 (mischief) and 409 (felony breach). “The cremation ground is the jurisdiction of Nagar Palika. We are probing why it collapsed,” the officer mentioned.
District Magistrate Ajay Shanker Pandey mentioned Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered an inquiry. “We are looking at the technicalities of the construction, including the material being used,” he mentioned, including that the crematorium was nonetheless within the strategy of building.
Jai Ram’s daughter Poonam mentioned she misplaced her nephews, two cousins, neighbours and her son’s mates. “In my aunt’s family, there are no men, no breadwinners anymore. She lost her husband to cancer a few months back, her elder son last year, and two sons today,” she cried.
Poonam’s husband Krishan Pal, 45, a labourer, is admitted at MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad. “I was standing in a corner when the roof fell. I shouted for what seemed like hours to me at the time,” mentioned Pal, who was introduced out with the assistance of cranes by the rescue workforce that seen his legs protruding from the particles.
Udham Singh (25), Jai Ram’s neighbour, was among the many first to be rescued. “The priest was just about to begin the rites when I saw something fall. A few slabs hit my shoulders first, and I crumbled. Then the other parts fell all over my body,” he mentioned.
SDM Aditya Prajapati mentioned the NDRF workforce had used three cranes for the rescue operations, which lasted 5 hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the households of victims, and wished these injured a speedy restoration.
Adityanath has introduced monetary help of Rs 2 lakh to kin of every of the deceased, and sought a report from the Divisional Commissioner of Meerut and ADG, Meerut Zone, on the matter.
