A portion of private lodge building collapses; no casualties

Kurnool: A portion of a private lodge caved in at Nandyal on Sunday afternoon. Luckily no casualties were reported. The lodge is located on N K Road near Padmavathi Nagar.

“This is the busiest road in Nandyal with a cinema theatre owned by MLC NMD Farooq located just opposite to the lodge,” said Raghavendra, owner of Shoba lodge. He said that a block of the lodge facing the main road with about 40 rooms spread over three floors was marked for demolition to accommodate road widening. About 12 feet from the main road was marked, he added.

He further said that due to recent rains, the marked structure was soaked in water and the ground below it became slippery. “Luckily no one was injured when it collapsed,” he said. A passerby who spoke to The Hans India said, “All I could see was a dense smoke with the sound of a thud. All this happened in less than a minute.” Another passerby looking at the falling structure said that as it was lunch time, no one was around when the structure collapsed.

Nandyal municipal chairperson Desam Sulochana said that it could have been a major tragedy if it had happened during a working day when there will be movement of people. She said that still a lot has to be done to clear the road widening debris and partially collapsed structures should be reduced to rubble.

Compensation still not paid: Raghavendra, the owner of Shoba Lodge said that they have not received any compensation so far. He said that only 38 people were given compensation in Nandyal and more than 750 people who lost property due to road widening are yet to receive compensation.