Daughter killed, mother critical after scaffolding of Pavilion Mall comes down

Mangalore Today News Network

Ludhiana, June 23, 2014:  A 30-year-old woman died after the scaffolding of newly opened Bharti Pavilion Mall came down late on Saturday.

Pardeep Kaur and her mother Amarjeet Kaur, 60, were rushed to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital after the mall’s scaffolding came down suddenly, hitting the duo who were coming out of the mall’s parking on Saturday evening. The daughter succumbed to injuries around 10.30 pm. The mother is critical.

The mall, owned by the Bharti Group, started PVR cinemas three days back while work is still on and other showrooms are yet to open. While a case was registered under Section 304 (a) of the IPC (death due to negligence) on late Saturday, division number 8 police arrested Javed Khan, contractor of the mall, on Sunday. Later, he was released on bail.

Talking to Newsline, Division Number 8 SHO Sukhdeep Singh said, “We arrested Javed Khan who is contractor and installed scaffolding to clean glass windows of the mall. He has taken bail but only 304(A) of the IPC was applicable seeing the offence.”

Information from fire safety department and Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority confirmed that the mall was issued a completion certificate.

Assistant divisional fire officer Bhupinder Singh said, “We checked fire safety provisions in the mall which were working fine so NoC was issued regarding fire safety.”

GLADA additional chief administrator Kuldeep Singh Vaid confirmed that “the mall was issued completion certificate”. He told Newsline, “The accident was unfortunate but we issued the certificate since all construction work was complete in the mall. The scaffolding is installed to clean glasses at higher levels and has nothing to do with norms required for issuing a completion certificate.