Structural flaw caused bus stand roof collapse

SOMANUR/COIMBATORE: The roof collapse at the Somanur bus stand that claimed the lives of five people and caused injuries to 18 others on Thursday was an accident waiting to happen.
To start with, there was a serious design flaw in the construction of the bus stand. Though the extended roof of the bus stand was 200 feet long, protruding 7 feet from the main structure, there was no pillar to support it in between.
Besides, it has come to light from the debris of the collapsed roof that the quality of materials used was substandard.
“The contractors failed to use quality materials. The proportion of cement was very less, making it a weak structure,“ said V John Sahaya Albert, a power loom owner from Somanur.
Albert was one of the pet itioners who had complained about the stability of the bus stand to the district administration right from the time it was constructed in 1997. “But the district administration did not take any steps based on our petition,“ he alleged.
At the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, where the bodies of the victims and those injured were brought, loud wails of relatives and family members rang through the trauma ward and mortuary.
It was after 10 long years that A Sivakumar became a father six months ago. His family's happiness knew no bounds until their world fell apart when the 43-year-old bus conductor was crushed to death in the roof collapse.
“Siva was cheerfully chatting with me until I left,“ said Senthil Kumar, 38, his colleague.
Punithamani C lost her 20-year-old daughter who was returning home from college. Dharani C was a final year student of BSc nutrition at NGP College of Arts and Science in Kalapatti.
Ramalingam, who lost his wife, 40-year-old Easwari, was scrambling to see the body. She had met with the tragic end right in front of the eyes of her 14-year-old son, who was inconsolable.