One child killed, nine hurt in roof crash

Staff Correspondent
The roof of the private school collapsed within hours after the building was inaugurated

SUPERVISING RELIEF WORK: G. Janardhan Reddy, Tourism Minister, supervising the relief work at Kenchappa High School, Bellary, where a child died in roof collapse on Tuesday.

BELLARY: Santosh studying in X standard died on the spot and nine others, including three students and two teachers, when the mud roof of their school building collapsed on Tuesday within hours after its inauguration. The incident occurred around 3.30 p.m. at Kenchappa High School, run by Harpahanahalli-based TMAE Society. “But for the break, the casualty would have been high. Almost all the students, numbering over 45, had come out of the building when the roof collapsed killing one boy and injuring nine others,” an eyewitness told The Hindu. According to police, the management rented the renovated building, measuring about 30 ft. x 20 ft., from Basappa at Rs. 20,000 a year. The roof, which was laid using bamboo, bamboo mat and mud, collapsed when a few workers were still filling the mud. The high school was unaided while the primary and higher primary schools run by the institution was aided, according to N.A. Thippeswamy, Deputy Director of Public Instruction. On getting information, the police officials, accompanied by Fire and Emergency Services personnel, rushed to the spot, and launched a search operation. All the injured were rushed to the VIMS Hospital. The names of the admitted children were given as Usha (X standard), Parshuram (IX standard), and M. Sunita (teacher). Three workers – Ramu, Shankar and Sharief – were undergoing treatment. Tourism Minister G. Janardhan Reddy, Bellary MLA G. Somashekar Reddy, zilla panchayat president Pushparekha, Mayor Shobha Narayan and Deputy Mayor Hasina Bi, in-charge Deputy Commissioner C.G. Bettasurmath, and zilla panchayat chief executive officer Anthony Mandonca came to the spot and supervised the search operations. Mr. Reddy expressed concern over the substandard school buildings selected by the private institutions.
“I have given instructions to the Deputy Commissioner and the Additional Superintendent of Police to inquire into the matter and cancel the licence of the school besides suspending the officials concerned who failed to discharge their duties properly,” he said.

From the Hindu