TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: After having personally been involved in the recovery of 21 bodies since Saturday, a local from Canacona was in for a rude shock on Wednesday morning when he was snubbed by authorities and prevented from entering the recovery site.
“I was instrumental in locating almost all 21 bodies retrieved till Wednesday and I single-handedly lifted as many as 14 bodies during the first two days after the building collapsed at Ruby Residency. But from Wednesday afternoon, I was debarred from joining the recovery operations by authorities,” said a visibly upset Prabhat Naik Amolkar of Khalwadem-Canacona.
Amolkar also blamed the politicians for unnecessary intrusions which hindered the smooth and successful rescue and recovery operations till date.
“If it were not for politicians, more bodies could have been retrieved within the first two days of the incident. It is possible that there could even have been one or two survivors,” said Amolkar.
Incidentally, Amolkar, a welder by profession, had been a regular face during rescue and recovery operations from Saturday to Wednesday morning and he was even praised by the onlookers for his service, until he was bluntly told to stay away from the recovery operations on Wednesday afternoon.
Asked why he had been prevented from participating in recovery operations on Wednesday, Amolkar told the reporters: “You ask the authorities, but I do not blame them as they are doing good job. But they are being constantly pressured with unnecessary directions and orders by politicians, thereby misguiding the entire ongoing operations.”
“I believe that there is a move to hide some facts as far as the number of fatalities in the tragedy is concerned. In my opinion, there should have been over 34 bodies recovered so far, but authorities continue to maintain the fatalities as either 22 or 24. I suspect this could be a possible reason why I am now stopped from joining the manual recovery operations,” Amonkar told media persons.
After attending the cremation of Santosh Bhagat – a worker who was found dead in the collapsed building on Wednesday – Amolkar returned to join the recovery operations when he was stopped at the gate by policemen and informed that they had orders from authorities not to allow him inside the site.
When an official, who was supervising recovery operations at the site, was asked to explain why Amolkar had been barred from participating in the operations, he replied: “Amolkar was asked not to enter the area for his own safety, as only trained and authorized people have been assigned to the job.”
When reminded that Amolkar had been allowed to be part of the operations for four days, the official shot back: “If something were to happen to him, you media persons would have taken the authorities to task for allowing a civilian inside the area, which incidentally has been declared unsafe, considering the precariously placed adjacent buildings.”
