Labourer killed, 3 hurt as shed collapses in under-construction rice mill in Mohali

According to the police, although a probe has been launched in the incident, the shed may have collapsed due to the heavy rain that lashed the region on Thursday.
Police identified the deceased as one Rishipal, a hailed from Uttar Pradesh (UP) but was living in Basoli village, where the upcoming mill is located.

The victim is survived by his wife and three children.

An eyewitness, Mahavir, who was also working at the site, said that the incident took place when the labourers were working under the shed and it started raining. He said that suddenly they heard a loud sound of something crashing to the ground, followed by screams of people trapped under the debris.

“It was chaos. I saw everyone running around, and some labourers were stuck under the shed, which had come crashing down,” Mahavir said.

Balwant, another labourer working at the site, said that that the rice mill was under construction and at the time of the incident around 30 people were working near the area where the shed collapsed.

Balwant said, “We found that some labourers were stuck under the shed and we tried to help them. One person was found trapped under the sheets of the shed and was unresponsive. We somehow managed to pull him out and rush him to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.”

Navdeep Jindal, the owner of the under construction rice mill — Swastik Rice Sheller — said that the moment he received information about the incident, he rushed to the spot and ferried the injured labourer, Rishipal, to Dera Bassi civil hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

He said that the sheller was not operational yet and new machines had been installed in the mill with construction work in some areas still going on. Some labourers, however, alleged that the shed was built using sub-standard material which led to Thursday’s incident.

The police said they have launched a probe in the case.