A three-storey building in Bengaluru collapsed like a pack of cards on Monday morning, leaving a cloud of dust in the area for several minutes. The building was situated in Subbaraju Layout in Lakkasandra, Wilson Garden under Adugodi Police Station limits. All the residents were construction workers engaged in building the Bengaluru metro, and were reportedly evacuated on Sunday after they made distress calls about the building shaking.

This is yet another incident that exposes the lack of due diligence on part of government authorities in ensuring minimum living and working conditions for unorganised workers building mega projects in Bengaluru and other parts of the country. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation’s chief public relations officer Yashwanth Chauhan said they are ascertaining details about the accident and refused to make a comment about their responsibility as a principal employer immediately.

According to fire officials, the building had collapsed due to its dilapidated nature and there is no other reason suspected. Fire department officials had reached the spot in the morning, and did a check to ensure no one was in the building, and the structure reportedly collapsed just minutes after their check was done. Workers who were living in the building said that the structure had been shaking for a long time and their complaints about the same had been ignored.

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BMRCL MD Anjum Parwez told TNM that all workers in the building were shifted to other accommodation facilities after workers complained about the stability of the building. "After this incident, we are ensuring that all places where metro construction workers stay in the city are safe,” he told TNM. Police said they will register a case on a suo motu basis.

Visuals of the collapse shared by fire department officials and onlookers show a cloud of dust engulfing the area as the three story building collapsed into rubble within a span of three seconds. Fortunately, the rubble did not affect the neighbouring buildings on either side and fell on the road in front.