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Rescue operations in progress on the second day on Tuesday after a five storied building collapsed at Mushtaq Gunj in Ludhiana on Monday. PTI Photo[/caption]
Ludhiana, Nov. 21 (IANS): The death toll in the building collapse of a plastic factory in this Punjab city has risen to 11 and some people are still feared trapped under the debris, Punjab government officials said here.
However, Ludhiana Fire Officer D.S. Sandhu told media that 15 bodies had been recovered from the debris of the collapsed factory building and two persons had been taken out alive and hospitalised.
The five-storeyed building, located in a congested part of the Industrial area near Cheema Chowk, had collapsed on Monday afternoon following a powerful blast triggered by a major fire in the building earlier.
Around 20-25 people, including officials of the Fire Department and Municipal Corporation, were feared trapped inside the building.
Expressing grief and shock at the tragic incident, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered a detailed inquiry by the Patiala Divisional Commissioner into the incident and announced compensation for the kin of those killed.
Teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), Army, Punjab Police, the Fire Department and a local NGO were engaged in rescue work.
The Chief Minister took stock of the situation and directed the district authorities to speed up the rescue and relief efforts.
The families of four firemen and one sanitary inspector killed in the tragedy will be given Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia, with the state government and the Municipal Corporation contributing 50 per cent each, along with one job per family on compassionate grounds, a government spokesperson said.
The five civilians who lost their lives in the incident will be provided Rs 2 lakh each as ex-gratia, the spokesperson added.
The factory owner, Inderjit Singh Gola, has been booked for negligence. He is said to be on the run.
The Chief Minister made it clear that strict action would be initiated against any officer found guilty of dereliction of duty or lapse of any kind, leading to the accident.
Chemicals and plastic material stored in Amarson Polymers stoked the fire, officials said.
At least 15 fire tenders were rushed to the spot which finally brought the fire under control after nearly six hours on Monday.
Officials said that a few other buildings and houses in the vicinity of the collapsed building were also damaged.
