Portion of building collapses during demolition, one killed

HYDERABAD: One person was killed and another injured after a portion of an old building located in Chandanagar’s Huda Colony collapsed while the structure was being demolished on Tuesday evening. The incident took place around 5pm when two labourers deployed at the site were trying to pull down the over 20-year-old house.



The deceased was identified as 40-year-old, Veeranna a resident of Papireddy Nagar in Chandanagar. While he died on the spot, the other labourer, Siddulu, escaped with minor injuries. He was later shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, where doctors confirmed that he was out of danger.

Following the incident, the Chandanagar police booked a case against the owner of the building, Naidu Ramachandra Rao, under sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.

“Rao had hired workers to demolish his old G+2 building. The work started on Monday and the first floor was demolished.

“The mishap occurred when the workers were trying to break a wall near the main door on the ground floor. The first floor slab collapsed and Veeranna died on the spot. Siddulu suffered injuries,” said Miyapur ACP, S Ravi Kumar.

Confirming the incident Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials said that the owner of the three-storey building, a retired Singareni employee, had hired the labourers to demolish his existing house, as he intended to construct an apartment complex in its place, on the same land.

“While the owner had already applied for permission from GHMC to start a new construction, he began dismantling the old one alongside, based on hearsay that building permissions were easier to come by once the existing building was demolished. This is a common practice among people while applying for building permission, as they are usually asked to raze the existing construction by the GHMC.

“But this notion about dismantling existing buildings speeding up the clearance process is completely misplaced,” said Srinivas Rao, assistant city planner, GHMC (Chandanagar).