Minor boy dies as water tank collapses in Odisha’s Steel City

Reported by Malay Ray
Rourkela/Bhubaneswar, Mar 26:

In a tragic incident, a minor boy died here on Thursday afternoon when an overhead water tank collapsed on him.

The deceased boy has been identified as Oscar Kulu (16), a resident of Kerketta basti under Bisra police station here, who was working as a labourer in a renovation work of a building in Jagda area of the city.

Sources said, a group of laborers were working in breaking one portion of the building of a private educational institute, known Dr.Ambedkar Memorial Institute of Information Technology (DAMIT) located at Jagda area of the city, here on Thursday. At about 2.30 PM, when the workers were working on the roof top of the building, one of the four pillars on which the overhead tank of the building was standing collapsed. As a result, the water tank collapsed on the minor boy working near the tank was pressed under the roof of tank. He died on the spot.

After the death of the boy, tension prevailed on the spot for quite some time as hundreds of locals staged a demonstration demanding adequate compensation to the family members of deceased. Normalcy was restored on Thursday evening after the compensation amount was finalised.

“The management of DAMIT has agreed to pay compensation Rs.10 lacs to the family members of the deceased. They have now given Rs.5000/- to his family members for his funeral,” said B.N.Sahu, Sub Inspector, Jhirpani police station.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the family of the minor boy. He also announced free treatment of the three others who were injured in the mishap.

He asked the district collector to submit a report on the mishap to the state government at the earliest.