Mother, son dead as Bengaluru Metro Pillar collapses during construction

Bengaluru, Jan 10: A 30-year-old woman and her toddler son were killed as an under-construction pillar of the "Namma Metro" (Bengaluru Metro) collapsed on Tuesday, police said.

The mishap occurred around 11 am on Outer Ring Road near HBR Layout in the city after the TMT bars erected for the construction of a pillar fell on their scooter. As per the reports, the height of the pillar is said to be over 40 feet and weighing several tonnes. The duo was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital by the bystanders, but the woman and her two and a half year-old son succumbed to their injuries.

"Both suffered head injuries, we tried out best to save them. There was lot of blood loss already and also fall in BP," Doctors who treated them said. The woman's husband and other child, who were injured, are doing fine, they added.

Responding to the incident, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that an inquiry will be conducted into the incident and compensation will be given to the bereaved. "I just got to know about it, we will get it investigated.. we will ascertain the reason for the collapse of the pillar and provide compensation," he said.

A case has been registered and investigation will follow, the police said. The incident had resulted in traffic jam for some time along the stretch, even as many vehicles were plying when the mishap occurred, according to a PTI report.

"It's very shocking that an under-construction pillar fell on a woman and child. Until now there were pothole deaths now pillars are collapsing. This is a clear case of violation, negligence and corruption of the BJP government," Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy said. She also demanded the resignation of Karnataka CM. "It's a clear case of poor work and people have succumbed to it. Now, people of Bengaluru and Karnataka are fed up."

"This is the result of the '40% commission' government. There is no quality in development works," Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said.