Four killed, several injured in Pune's Shivajinagar after hoarding collapses near railway station

Four people were killed and several were injured after a hoarding collapsed near the railway station in Pune’s Shivajinagar on Friday, media reports said.

The 40-feet hoarding collapsed on vehicles which had stopped at Shahir Amar Shaikh Chowk traffic light.

The hoarding was being dismantled at around 2 pm by a contractor hired by the railways when it came crashing down, Deputy Commissioner of Police B Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.

According to ANI, the hoarding fell on a busy road, damaging nearly eight vehicles. Railway authorities have ordered a high-level committee probe into the incident.

Pune: A flex banner beside railway station of Shivaji Nagar collapsed on vehicles moving on road. About 7-8 vehicles damaged & 8-9 injured have been rushed to hospital. More details awaited. Fire brigade and railway police at the spot. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/f9eTJh20Rs

— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2018

The deceased were identified as Shamrao Kasar (70), Shamrao Dhotre (48), Shivaji Pardeshi (40) and Javed Khan (40).

It was another blow of cruel fate for the family of Pardeshi as his wife had passed away on Thursday and according to a friend of the family, he along with his son, daughter and mother were returning home in the auto rickshaw after immersing his wife’s ashes in the river when the accident occurred Pardeshi was killed while his family members received minor injuries.

Later in the day, the railway announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the people who died and Rs 1 lakh for those seriously injured and Rs 50,000 for those injured, ANI reported.

Pune Mirror reported that the incident occurred at 1.50 pm and the hoarding was built illegally on the railway land.

There seemed to be some negligence on the part of the contractor, the DCP told PTI, adding a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered against the contractor and his workers under the Indian Penal Code.

Fire brigade officials said five auto-rickshaws, a two-wheeler and a car were damaged in the accident. “Since it was afternoon, there was not much traffic. Had there been more traffic, there would have been many more casualties,” a local resident said.

Pune divisional railway manager Milind Deouskar told PTI that the railways had given a contract to an outdoor advertisement agency to put up hoardings on the railway premises a few years ago, but as the agency did not follow safety norms, it was asked to remove the structures.

“As the agency did not dismantle the structures, we hired a contractor to dismantle them,” Deouskar said.

Due to some blunder while removing the hoarding, it crashed on the roadside instead of falling on the railway premises.

With inputs from agencies