Pune: Civic bus shelter in Camp collapses; two men injured

PUNE: Two persons sitting in a 20-year-old PMPML bus stand, opposite SGS mall in Camp, were injured after the structure collapsed at 1pm on Tuesday.
Sub-inspector Prahlad Dongale from the Cantonment police told TOI that one of the two men, Devendra Shamsher Shinde (52) of NIBM Road, suffered injuries to his shoulder, back and hands. The other, Santosh Shamrao Kambol (40), a casual worker from Koregaon Bhima, was injured on his hands and legs.“Shinde is undergoing treatment at Sassoon General Hospital, while Kambol was treated and discharged from the same hospital around 7pm on Tuesday,” Dongale said.
Fortunately, nobody was passing by on the pedestrian path in front of the structure, police said.
The path for pedestrians falls under Pune Cantonment Board (PCB), while the carriageway in front comes within Pune Municipal Corporation’s ambit. Consequently, there was no immediate clarity as to which body should be held responsible for the maintenance of the structure.
Dongale, who is investigating the case, cited an inspection of the spot and said, “The steel bars supporting the structure from behind were worn and damaged by corrosion due to years of neglect. We have taken photographs as evidence and will verify all details before assigning responsibility and registering a case over the incident. For now, we have registered an accident case,” he said.
Police have also asked Pune cantonment officials to conduct a structural audit of all civic bus shelters in its limits and submit a report in a week. “We have asked Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited to do the same in PMC limits,” Dongale further said.
A senior PMPML official told TOI that the bus shelter was installed around 20 years ago on a ‘build-operate-transfer’ basis. “The revenue from advertisements on the bus shelter go to PCB, so the board is responsible for the shelter’s upkeep,” the official said.
“Our officials visited have Sassoon hospital to check on the injured. We are looking into the matter,” the official further said.
(With inputs from
Joy Sengupta)