Dharwad building collapse: Death toll rises to 13, engineer arrested

Dharwad, Mar 21: Police arrested the engineer of the 5-storey building that collpsed on March 19 at Kumareshwar nagar in Dharwad. Thirteen people were killed in the incident. The Engineer, Vivek Pawar, was arrested from a lodge in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

The death toll in building collapse at Kumaraeshwar Nagar in Dharwad rose to 13 as rescuers pulled out three more bodies on Thursday. Till now more than 60 people have been rescued.

Rescuers have pulled out 60 people from the rubble of the four-storeyed under construction building, which collapsed Tuesday evening at Kumareshwaranagar in the heart of Dharwad,about 400 km from Bengaluru.

In addition to 10 ambulances and five fire tenders deployed for relief and rescue operations, three teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have been engaged, two from Ghaziabad and one from Bengaluru.

Former CM Jagadish Shettar, who visited the cite, sought Rs 10 lakh compensation to the kin of the deceased in the tragedy. He further asked the government to order a judicial probe into the incident.

CM HD Kumaraswamy said, "The rescue work at Dharwad building collapse site is on. I spoke to the Revenue Minister who is on site and the DC and took stock of the progress in rescue operations. I have told the Chief Secretary to make a detailed inquiry into the accident."

Former Karnataka minister and Congress leader from the region Vinay Kulkarni had said Tuesday that one of the partners in the building was his relative and that whoever was involved should face action.

According to reports, most of those trapped were migrant labourers from north India who were engaged in laying tiles.

A case has been filed under section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC against the owners of the building and a special team will be constituted to investigate the case and arrest the culprits.

(With PTI inputs)