Ghaziabad: Three officials & contractor held for roof cave-in that killed 24

GHAZIABAD: A senior executive officer of the Muradnagar municipality, which had awarded the contract of building the crematorium shelter that collapsed on Sunday and killed 24 people, was among three civic officials arrested on Monday. The contractor who had built the shelter was also nabbed late on Monday night.
Niharika Chauhan, the executive officer, junior engineer Chandra Pal and supervisor Ashish were picked up from their homes around 7am.Ajay Tyagi, the contractor, was arrested near Meerut around 11.30pm. On Sunday night, the four had been booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), among other charges.
In the afternoon, a police team had visited the house of Tyagi, but he was not at home. “A search for the contractor was initiated and a police team deployed outside his house,” SP (rural) Iraz Raja said. On Monday evening, police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information on him.
Tyagi, who was given the contract of renovating the crematorium and building the shelter in February last year, had almost completed the project by October. There are allegations that the material he used was of inferior quality. Chauhan had on Sunday admitted the civic body could not carry out an inspection of the project in the absence of a junior engineer.
On Monday morning, the family members of six persons killed in the roof collapse blocked the Ghaziabad-Meerut highway with the bodies and demanded a higher monetary compensation and a government job for the next of kin. The protest, which lasted from 11am to 4.30pm, led to an 8km-long snarl on the highway. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had on Sunday announced a Rs 2 lakh compensation each for the families of the deceased.
Those who laid siege to the highway had come from the MMG District Hospital after the bodies of victims were handed over to them following an autopsy. The protesters, who were angry with the compensation, refused to talk to any police officer and insisted they would not budge an inch until the district magistrate arrived and spoke to them.
Sunita, whose husband Nitin was among the 24 people who died, said she would continue with her protest until the government increased the aid. “I have a son and daughter to raise. My husband was the sole earning member of our family. Tell me, is Rs 2 lakh enough for all our expenses?” she asked.
“The government should increase the amount to at least Rs 15 lakh. It should also offer a job to each family,” said Suraj, another protester.
Later in the afternoon, Suresh Kumar Khanna, the minister of finance, parliamentary affairs and medical education in the UP cabinet, met a few families of the deceased in Muradnagar and announced the government’s decision to increase the compensation amount from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. He also said that the government would provide a job to a member from each family, depending on his or her educational qualification.
On the highway, the protest was lifted a few hours later after Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey visited the site and informed the families about the government’s decision. Though the families had vacated the highway around 4.30pm, it took a couple of hours more for traffic to move smoothly.