Jeweller booked for Laxmi Chhaya building collapse

Mumbai, July 20 (UNI) Minister of State for Urban Development Rajesh Tope today informed the Legislative Assembly that Kailash Jain of Vardhaman Jewellers, which had its shop on the ground floor of Laxmi Chhaya building, has been booked for culpable homicide.

Mr Tope, while replying to a debate in the Lower House on the collapse of the 27-year-old seven-storeyed building in suburban Mumbai which killed 28 persons, said Kailash Jain has been booked under sections 304, 427, 228, 337 and 338 of the Indian Penal Code as preliminary investigations indicated that the column of the building's foundation was tampered with by the jewellers that had led to its collapse.

The Minister said the members' demand for an increase in compensation for the kin of dead from Rs one lakh to Rs two lakh, and Rs one lakh from Rs 50,000 to the injured, was ''justified'' and the State Government would take necessary measures.

Mr Tope also informed the House that survivors from the building would be shifted to transit camps immediately.

He said the government is considering a proposal to reserve some tenaments in existing transit camps for survivors of such tragedies as temporary shelter. The government is also considering a proposal for making available transit accomodation in SRA, mill lands and in MHADA by providing 2.5 FSI.

Mr Tope said BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak will be asked to prepare a report on the trained personnel of Disaster Management to face new challenges for tackling different kinds of disasters and the government will work on the recommendations immediately.

He informed that the government has already announced a judicial probe and an inquiry by a technical committee comprising five experts into the Laxmi Chhaya building collapse.

UNI