Bengaluru, 1 May

The Karnataka government has constituted two committees to probe the collapse of a compound wall at the government-run Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in the City during heavy rains that claimed seven lives. Both committees have been asked to submit their reports within a week.

While one committee consisting of the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban District and the Yelahanka Tahsildar will inquire into the incident locally, another five-member panel comprising PWD department officials has been constituted to conduct a technical inquiry, headed by Mohan K, retired Chief Engineer, PWD, the government order said.

The order said that the wall collapsed because it was not repaired on time.

The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the inquiry committees include verifying the year the structure was constructed and the materials used, and possible factors that might have led to the tragedy.

The committees also will look into whether the structure was maintained as per norms, if any other works taken up on the campus led to weakening the structure and whether the wall's lifecycle was over.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has initiated measures to identify dangerous structures and trees across the City to prevent accidents and ease traffic congestion. In addition to the deaths at the Bowring Hospital, three other people died in the rains on Wednesday and Thursday.

“They (police) have identified for the first phase 448 trees. The branches and not the trees, have to be cut. At some places where there are trees which have completely dried up will be cut,” he said.

Shivakumar said the list has been prepared by the police department under the supervision of Joint Commissioner of Police Karthik Reddy. The Bengaluru Development Minister said he is giving the go-ahead and “cut the trees.”  Meanwhile, GBA Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao said that officials could have averted the widespread destruction had there been less rain.

“We are generally able to manage if our City gets around 70 mm of rain per hour. Beyond that it becomes difficult,” he told reporters. The City saw a record 111mm of rain on Wednesday. He said the work was ongoing to get the drains cleared and all the GBA’s control rooms will be activated from May.