Under-construction building comes crashing down in Dharwad; 100 trapped, 1 dead

Dharwad: An under-construction building came crashing down at Kumareshwaranagar in the city of Dharwad, Karnataka. While two floors of the building were built and shops in them rented out, the third floor was being built when the tragedy took place. In all, the building plan sanctioned gives the right to construct five floors.

The building belongs to the relatives of Vinay Kulkarni, a Congress MLA from Dharwad. He also happens to be the minister for mines and geology. Talking to media, he said that the building was being built under a joint venture and he doesn’t have much information on the same.

The construction had been going on for two years now. It stands on a plot measuring 80*100 and houses seventy to eighty shops in the first two floors. As it is a weekday, the shops were seething with people. At around 3pm, the building collapsed, trapping as many as a hundred people and killing one.

An eyewitness said, “The quality of the construction is mediocre. There were tea and xerox shops. I was passing by when it came crashing down. It is an under-construction building. Shops were rented out even before completion. Work had been on going on for several days.”