About 50-60 individuals went to Ukhlarsi crematorium to attend last rites of a fruit-seller. There was heavy rain and the people went under the only shelter that was available in the cemetery. Due to heavy rain, the roof of the shelter collapsed leaving 24 dead and 17 injured. The shelter was constructed at a cost of $6.8 million. The construction which took 2 months was completed only 15 days ago.
When he heard of the collapse of the roof, the main contractor, Ajay Tyagi, fled from his house. Police announced a reward of Rs 25,000 ($350) for information about his whereabouts. He was eventually arrested by the police. Apart from him three others were arrested. Muradnagar government officer Niharika Singh, junior engineer Chandra Pal and supervisor Ashis were arrested. All those arrested were charged with culpable murder not amounting to homicide.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath issued a directive to charge the accused under National Security Act and to recover the losses from them. In September last year CM had given instructions that all projects costing more than $80,000 should be reviewed for quality control. This was not done. The CM had announced compensation of $13,700 for the households of those who suffered.
Source: Newsdeal.
