Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today expressed profound grief and sorrow over the tragic incident of the building of an industrial unit in Jalandhar which collapsed thereby claiming the lives of two persons and injuring 39 out of 55 rescued so far and the remaining had been discharged from the hospital after giving them first aid.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that, Mr. Badal who was away to Mumbai on an official tour shared his heartfelt sympathies with the members of the bereaved family and prayed to the Almighty to give strength and courage to bear this irreparable loss and grant peace to the departed souls. He also wished speedy recovery of the injured.
Mr. Badal also announced an ex gratia grant of Rs.2 lac for the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment for the injured in the mishap and asked the Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar to provide the best possible treatment to the injured. Mr. Badal also asked the pisional Commissioner Jalandhar to conduct an inquiry into the incident to ascertain the possible causes of the mishap and suggest some remedial measures to prevent such incidents in future to save the precious human lives.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister directed his Principal Secretary SK Sandhu to visit the site and to review and coordinate rescue operations. Mr. Sandhu who reached at the site in the morning informed that no time was wasted and effort spared to ensure rescue operations. He said that two companies of National Disaster Relief Force from Bathinda were pressed into service and assistance from Army was also sought to ensure efficient and hassle free rescue operations. As many as 200 constables of Punjab Police and Punjab Armed Police were also deployed for the evacuation of the persons.