The five-storeyed building in the final stages of construction collapsed, much like a pack of cards, at about 2.05 pm and many labourers who were taking their afternoon nap were buried under the debris.
By the time the State administration reacted, locals had already volunteered to rescue and evacuated over 35 people to safety. Canacona Fire Station officials reached the site by 2.30 pm, mobilising reinforcements from Margao, Curchorem, Ponda and Panjim. The following day, a 75-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team reached the site with rescue equipment, skilled personnel and dog squads.
Then chief minister Manohar Parrikar personally supervised the operations, which besides the Fire & Emergency Services, had Army personnel and NDFR working in tandem. The tragedy was declared a ‘State Disaster’.
The army personnel left the site on January 6, leaving the operation exclusively to the NDFR team that requisitioned a special crane from Pune to crush and remove the debris.
Search and rescue operations for survivors and dead were officially called off on January 14, after 31 bodies were extricated from under the debris.
Nine government officials, including Canacona Municipality’s serving and past chief officers, municipal engineers, previous Canacona deputy town planner and draftsman were suspended and arrested for dereliction of their duties, while a contractor of the Ruby Residency project was also arrested. At present, all are out on bail, and two of the three arrested ex-civic officials have even been reinstated with new administrative postings.
The investigative agencies are, however, yet to nab the two builders of Bharat Developers & Realtors, the owners of Ruby Residency building.
The tragedy also gave some anxious moments to several hundred other investors, who were not linked to the Ruby Residency complex.
Besides the 80 investors of Ruby Residency Complex (Phase–III) including over 20 flats of the collapsed building, there were hundreds of others who had invested in two other properties of Bharat Developers at Nagarcem and Devabhaga-Palolem.
They have been left stranded for almost a year as the government has suspended all licences and occupancy certificates issued to the structures developed by the builders, besides attaching properties worth Rs 17 crore from these builders in various parts of the State.
