Vadodara buildings collapse: Guj Cong wants judicial probe

Gujarat Congress today demanded a judicial probe into the collapse of two buildings in the city early on Wednesday which claimed 11 lives.
Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela demanded a judicial commission headed by a retired judge of the Gujarat High Court to inquire into the incident.
Vaghela was speaking to reporters after visiting the accident site.
The two buildings had collapsed at 4.30 am on Wednesday behind Atladara area in the city. A high-level inquiry commission headed by retired chief secretary Manjula Subramaniam has been ordered to be constituted by Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
"Manjula Subramanium is a retired government servant. The panel will not help in bringing out the truth," Vaghela said.

"These buildings were constructed by Vadodara Development Authority (VUDA), a Gujarat government-promoted agency and inauguration of other 31 buildings located in the area was done by Chief Minister Narendra Modi himself in 2001. How can you expect a fair inquiry into it?" he asked.

The Congress leader demanded a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased as against Rs 2 lakh announced by the state government earlier.
Former president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Siddharth Patel alleged, despite repeated pleas by the people residing in these ill-fated buildings, VUDA failed to take timely action resulting to loss of lives.

"Poor quality of raw material was responsible for collapse of both buildings and weakening of the remaining 31 buildings," Patel alleged.