‘She saw it falling… happened in a fraction’: Day after pillar collapse took his wife and son, Bengaluru survivor questions Metro, construction officials

Solake was riding a bike with his daughter Vismitha behind him. Tejaswini was seated at the rear with Vihan in front of her. What happened next was a blur for Solake. “A bus was there on the other side and a biker next to me took an unusual cut to the left. At the same time, I heard Tejaswini screaming. It all happened in a fraction of second.”

Lohith and Tejaswini celebrated their marriage anniversary on December 6. Their children started going to  playschool just 10 days ago. The life they were slowly building together ended that instant.

“The safety gates installed for the metro construction line are just in name. For such huge structures, the safety gates must be installed in such a way that even if such structures collapse, it should not affect. And the under-construction metro pillar must be wired from four ends. BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd) claims that they had tied it from four ends and one of the wires snapped. If a wire was snapped, it should have been fixed. Why was it left negligently.” he asked.

“The pillar fell on my wife and son’s head. I somehow managed to balance my bike and when I saw, she was lying in a pool of blood. With the help of locals, we shifted them to Altius Sripada hospital where the doctors declared them both dead.”

The Govindapura police have registered a case under IPC Sections 336 (endangering life or personal safety), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304(a) (causing death by negligence), among others.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said on Wednesday: “The construction company NCC’s junior engineer Prabhakar, director Chaitanya, special project manager Mathai, project manager Vikas Singh, supervisor Lakshmipathu, BMRCL’s executive engineer Mahesh Bendekari and deputy chief engineer Venkatesh Shetty have been named in the FIR.”

The bodies of Tejaswini and Vihan were taken to Davangere, her hometown, where the final rites were performed on Wednesday.

At Davangere, Tejaswini’s father, Madan, dismissed the compensation announced by the authorities. “We don’t need your compensation. I will pay you Rs 1 crore, can the chief minister return my daughter and grandson’s life,” he asked. “There was a clear lapse by BMRCL and the contractor, Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd (NCC). The government needs to blacklist the contractor and arrest the officials. If the Chief Minister doesn’t initiate stern action, hundreds of public lives will be at risk.” The BMRCL had announced Rs 20 lakh compensation and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had announced Rs 10 lakh each to the deceased.

The BMRCL, in a statement on Wednesday evening, said that an internal technical team had been constituted to investigate the accident and submit a report at the earliest.

The BMRCL also said that it had suspended a deputy chief engineer, an executive engineer and a site engineer. It has also requested the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to independently investigate and submit a report.