TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: Another body was recovered from the debris of the collapsed building of Ruby Residency, taking the death toll to 34, as the 10-day gruelling search and rescue operations came to an end by Monday afternoon, bringing a huge relief to the authorities.
Even there is no official word, the body extricated was identified as that of labourer from Bihar, Pankaj Goswami. The body was reportedly sighted on Sunday, but some more clearances of the debris were required which was carried out on Monday.
According to sources, the highly decomposed body of Goswami was reportedly handed over to his wife.
Even as most of the official machinery stands withdrawn from the site on Sunday itself, sources informed that only Talathis were kept to man the site on Sunday, as the heavy machinery of Matte & Associates is now engaged to shift the collapsed building debris to nearby fields.
Unconvinced locals suspect that more bodies are still buried under the debris even as sources from the authority’s claims that none of the labour parties are looking out for their missing colleagues or members.
Incidentally, the authorities did not hold any official briefing nor carried out site inspection in the presence of media, before the search operations were reportedly called-off, announcing that the entire debris buried area at the collapsed building of the Ruby Residency has been searched and there is no more need to continue with the operations.
Following the Monday operations, NDRF personnel were the most relieved, as much as bringing down the tension of authorities’, but leaving the people still unclear and are eager to know if really all bodies have been retrieved or authorities have eye-washed by ending the operations, as initially there were claims of unaccounted people trapped and killed at the site.
Residents have also called for matching the figure of injured and dead labourers in the building collapse incident with the details collected from various contractors, including sub-contractors, and other unorganized working parties, who were engaged at the site.
