Ludhiana: Baddowal school building to undergo ‘non-destructive’ test

The district administration is expected to take a call on reopening the building for students after examining the test report

The old building of the Government Senior Secondary School, Baddowal, a part of the state government’s “School of Eminence” project, will undergo a “non-destructive test” in view of last Wednesday’s roof collapse incident that claimed the life of a teacher.

Students attending classes at a gurdwara in Ludhiana on Monday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

The district administration is expected to take a call on reopening the building for students after examining the test report.

A district administration team, along with the district education officer (DEO) and public works department (PWD) officials visited the school amid ongoing repair work and records required for the investigation were recovered from the damaged staff after removal of the debris.

Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM, West) Harjinder Singh said he had sent a team to the school to procure the documents after the mishap.

“We have procured the record from the school building, which is closed for classes. We will conduct a non-destructive test on the building in the next couple of days. We will take further decisions according to the report,” the SDM said.

According to the teacher’s union, the school building was first constructed in 1960 and lay in a dilapidated state. They added that the contractor kept on piling bricks and other construction material on the roof, which gave way.

Dakha police had registered a case under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code against the contractor Anmol Katyal, who is son of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jagraon councillor Kala Katyal.

Deputy superintendent of police Deep Karan Singh, an under-training station house officer (SHO) at Dakha police station, said efforts are underway to apprehend the accused.

Ravinder Kaur, a 45-year-old, had died, while three others were injured after the roof of the government school collapsed in Baddowal on Ferozepur Road on Wednesday. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann had ordered a magisterial probe into the matter.