3-storey school building collapses in Tohana Tragedy averted as accident happened at night; Poor construction quality feared

Fatehabad
A major tragedy was averted in Tohana town of this district today when the building of Maharaja Agarsen Senior Secondary School collapsed like a pack of cards on Tuesday night when no one was there in the school. Had the building fallen in the morning today, the lives of over 1,000 children studying in the school could have been in danger.

The lone watchman present at the time of the accident was sleeping in a room near the gate and he informed the school principal and other officials about the accident.

The entire three-storey building of the school, a part of which was constructed recently, came down crumbling, with a loud sound at about 10.30 last night.

Hundreds of residents gathered at the site in the night and again in the morning today.

Residents alleged that the accident occurred due to poor quality of construction.

Efforts to contact members of the management committee of the school proved futile. President Raj Kumar Garg did not respond to repeated calls made on his mobile, while the phones of some others were found switched off.

Sirsa Member of Parliament Ashok Tanwar, Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik and Superintendent of Police Vikas Dhankhar visited the accident site today where tonnes of debris is lying scatted in place of the school building.

“I have directed the executive engineer of the Public Works Department (Buildings and Roads) to look into the cause of the accident. In the meantime, the buildings of two adjoining dharamshalas have been provided to the school so that the children's education did not suffer,” Kaushik said after his visit.

The SP said an entry of the incident has been made in the daily diary report of Tohana city police station.

He said criminal action, if warranted, would be initiated after the receipt of the report of the XEN.