HOUSE COLLAPSED WHILE COOKING FOOD

HOUSE COLLAPSED WHILE COOKING FOOD

4-AUG-ENG 7

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-----------------------A heart-wrenching incident has come to light from Chowkipur village under Gajrajganj police station area of Bhojpur district, where a kutcha house suddenly collapsed while cooking food. The accident was so severe that the house was completely reduced to rubble. But luckily all the people present in the house survived safely. After the incident, there was a stir in the entire village and the villagers immediately reached the spot, where they helped in removing the people buried under the rubble.

W Paswan, a resident of Chowkipur village, who is a laborer by profession, was present in the house with his family as usual. At the same time, his wife was cooking food when suddenly the walls and roof of the house collapsed. The incident happened so fast that no one even got a chance to recover. But fortunately all the members of the family somehow managed to get out in time and a major accident was averted.

While the entire house collapsed in the accident, all the belongings kept in the house were completely ruined by being buried under the walls and debris. Clothes, utensils, grains, furniture and even important documents have been destroyed. W Paswan told that he supports his family by working as a daily wage laborer. He built this house with many years of hard work, but the continuous rain for the last few days weakened the foundation of the house, due to which this accident happened.

Now the situation is such that the whole family is forced to live under the open sky. The condition of children and elderly has become very pathetic. There is neither a roof nor any place to cook food. In this heavy rain and humid weather, the life of the family has become difficult.

On getting information about the incident, the nearby villagers reached the spot in large numbers and helped in removing the people buried under the debris. Local people say that despite informing the administration, no government official has reached the spot till now. The affected family has neither received any relief material nor any arrangement for temporary accommodation has been made.

W Paswan and local villagers have demanded from the district administration that immediate relief be provided to the affected family. Also, arrangements for rehabilitation should be made for them so that they can recover from this disaster.

Villagers say that there are many such kutcha houses in many nearby villages including Chaukipur which can collapse anytime. Cracks have appeared in the walls due to continuous rain. If the administration does not take appropriate steps by conducting a survey in time, then such incidents can happen more in the future.