Worker Dies as Roof Collapses at BPI Airport, 4 Held

Bhubaneswar, Jan 25 (PTI) At least one worker died and another was injured after the roof of an under-construction building collapsed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here, police said on Saturday.

Four persons including managing director of the construction company have been arrested in the incident, they said.

The incident took place late on Friday night when the labourers were engaged in the construction of a 6,000-sq ft roof meant to link Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the airport. "One person has died. The injured person is out of danger," Khurda Collector Sitanshu Rout said.

The deceased has been identified as Anataryami Guru, helper of a truck. He hailed from Badamba-Narsinghpur area in Cuttack district, while the injured worker is Nabakishore Swain, police said.

Four persons including managing director of the Dilip Construction Private Limited, officials of airport authority and two engineers have been arrested, said a senior officer of the BhubaneswarCuttack Police Commissionerate.

The four were interrogated at the Airport Police Station and later, arrested.

Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena said Guru and another worker were rescued by personnel of the NDRF, ODRAF and the State Fire Department cut through the concrete. However, Guru succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

"We have already informed the incident to our headquarters in Delhi. They will send competent persons to inspect the site within one or two days," BPIA director VV Rao told PTI.

"We have to see why it happened. What led to the collapse of the roof? Experts from our headquarters will investigate the matter looking into technical reasons behind the mishap," Rao said, adding that the incident has no impact on flight operation at the airport.

Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Anup Sahu said a team has been set up to undertake a criminal investigation into the matter and try to find out why the roof collapsed.

The DCP said: "We will initiate legal procedure required for the case. An expert team of engineers have been requisitioned to verify whether the safety measures were taken while executing the work. We have also sought the agreement paper for the construction of the building."

Before his arrest, the managing director of the construction company claimed that all safety measures were in place.

"The roof collapsed due to heavy load. It happened after the workers left the place, he said.

All Odisha Contractors Association president, Prabhat Das, claimed that some workers of the construction company alleged that instead of using iron pipes, wooden shafts were used for the "centring of the roof". As a result, the roof collapsed as it could not withstand the load.

Ruling BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra expressed concern over the incident and demanded a high-level probe.

"We are not politicising the tragedy like BJP. We demand adequate compensation for the victims' families and exemplary action against the persons responsible for the incident," Patra said.

Opposition BJP and Congress also expressed concern over the incident and demanded a thorough probe into the incident. Congress MLA Suresh Routray demanded a CBI probe into the incident as the mishap took place while constructing the airports project worth about Rs 100 crore.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)