Narrow escape for workers as steel shed for book fair collapses

Trichy: A group of workers had a narrow escape when the steel shed under construction for a book fair collapsed at a corporation ground in Anna Nagar in the city on Friday afternoon. The incident prompted the civic body to put permission to conduct the book fair on hold.
Made of steel pillars with tin sheet roof over an area 250 feet long and 80 feet wide on an open ground in Anna Nagar, the shed came down when more than 30 workers from Vellore and Trichy were busy laying the sheets on the roof and placing the pillars at 3.30 pm.
"I did not realise what happened. I got away with a small injury on the hand. The others escaped unhurt," S Sathish, 25 a labourer from Vellore, told the police.
The district library office and the bookseller's and publisher's association of south India (BAPASI) jointly obtained permission from Trichy Corporation before erecting the shed for the book fair, which was scheduled to be held from March 4 to March 13.
The police said a shed erecting contractor from Edamalaipattipudhur was responsible for the shed. The centre pillar was not erected properly, causing the collapse. No case has been registered in this connection.
The work, which began a couple of days ago, was expected to be completed in a few days so that the public works department (PWD) could assess the stability of the structure and issue a fitness certificate to ensure the safety of the public visiting the book fair.
"We usually allow any such programme only after obtaining a stability certificate from the PWD. In this case, the structure fell down causing apprehension over the safety. So we closed the ground today and no decision has been taken about the book fair," said assistant commissioner of Abhishekapuram zone S Kannan.