Tragedy struck Meerut when residents of an illegal house on Saturday morning allegedly ignored the evacuation notice given to them and got trapped under the debris when the house was demolished
the Cantonment Board. While four people were buried alive, six others were trapped under the debris of the multi-storey house, which was demolished during the anti-encroachment drive carried out by the Board.
While the four bodies were taken out, efforts were on to rescue the others who were said to be trapped under the debris.
Senior police officers along with heavy police force were present to ensure a peaceful rescue operation. The Chief Engineer responsible for the demolition drive was arrested for negligence.
Reports said that the officials of the Meerut Cantonment Board went to demolish Bungalow No. 210 during an anti-encroachment drive as the building was declared illegal. Even when the demolition drive was on, a few people were apparently still in the building and had no time to escape as the building got reduced to rubble in a flash.
However, according to Meerut Cantonment Board’s Assistant Engineer, Piyush Gautam, “A prior notice was sent to occupants to vacate the building as it had been illegally built. The area was marked for demolition and the timing of 3 am was already given. We gave three more hours to the occupants to take out their belongings and began the demolition at 6 am only.”
Soon after the incident, Cantonment Board officials as well as local police started rescue operations but could manage to take out only a few people alive while four of the bodies were also removed. The injured were admitted to hospital.
According to reports, rescue operation is underway as at least six other persons are feared trapped under the debris.
According to officials, the building was a disputed property and the High Court had ordered its demolition. Meanwhile, family members of the deceased have registered a police complaint against the Board officials. The bodies have been sent for postmortem.