Nine killed as slab of under-construction tower caves in

Nine labourers were killed today when a slab they were laying for the "unauthorised" 13th floor of an under-construction building in Balewadi area here collapsed, police said.
"The mishap occurred at around 11 AM when around 13-14 labourers were working on the 13th floor of the residential project," Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Zone-III), B Teli said.
An officer attached to Chatushringi police station said that a case is being registered.
"All the deceased hailed from Bihar and their bodies will be handed over to their families after autopsy," he said.
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Commissioner Kunal Kumar said the 13th floor of the 'Park Xpress' project was "unauthorised" as the said building had permission to construct only 12 floors.

Following the incident, the civic body has issued a 'stop work' notice to the builder and also ordered stopping of the construction at other buildings at the site.

"As per PMC records, the building had permission till 12th floors, however, the 13th floor, of which slab was caved-in today, was not given any permission and it was unauthorised," Kumar said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters at the crash site, he said adequate safety precautions were not taken at the construction site, which led to the mishap.
"If irregularities are found, guilty will be dealt with severely and a criminal case will be registered against them," he told reporters.

As per the civic body, the particular project belongs to Pride Purple Properties LLP, and Arvind Jain, Shravan Agarwal, Shamkant Wani and Kailas Wani are its partners.
Meanwhile, civic officials informed the registration of the builder and architect will be revoked following the incident.
Pune Mayor Prashant Jagtap said he would press for a demand to set up special squads to inspect irregularities at the construction sites.
(Reopens BOM 18)
Late in the evening, Chatushringi police in Pune city registered a case against ten people -- partners in the project, architects, etc -- under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of IPC and relevant sections of Maharashtra Ownership of Flat Act (MOFA) and Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966.

Those named in the FIR are Arvind Jain, Shravan Agarwal, Kailash Wani, Sham Shende, Mahendra Kamat, Bhavin Shah, Dnyaneshwar Chavan, Santosh Chavan, Pradip Kusumkar and Hansal Parikh.
The FIR says that they were aware of the absence of safety net, support system for slab, etc.
Till late night no one had been arrested.
Meanwhile the Pride Purple Group, which owns the under-construction project, said the entire responsibility of providing safety measures at construction site "was and is" with the contractor firm.
"As per the contract between Pride Purple and Mrigank Construction, the contracting firm...Entire responsibility of providing safety measures and other safety related issues was and is with Mrigank Construction," said Rajesh Narang, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Pride Purple Group.

As to the thirteenth and fourteenth floors, which are "unauthorised" as per the civic body, he said the firm had received the permission for twelve floors and the approval for thirteenth and fourteenth floors was awaited.
A team of Pune Municipal Corporation had visited the site for inspection, he added.
"As a moral responsibility, we have decided to give Rs two lakh each to next of kin of the deceased labourers," Narang said.