The PM has made it clear that this aid will be immediate. It follows the caving in of the under-construction shed in Taratala, and he has confirmed the figures – Rs 2 lakh for the kin of the eight who have perished and Rs 50,000 for the 20 hurt in the incident. It is a way of providing some solace as the probe and the rescue effort pick up speed.
Relief announced and who gets it
Per the PMO, the ex-gratia will come out of the PM National Relief Fund. The state government, for its part, is on it around the clock to make sure no one is left without the support they need.
You can count on these payments to go to both the bereaved and those in recovery. It’s the Centre’s way of showing it is there while the state handles things on the ground.
Rescue, casualties, and hospital updates
Kolkata Police put the death toll at eight. All were pronounced dead at SSKM Hospital. There are 20 others who were not so lucky and were injured.
It all went down just after 12:07 pm on Wednesday. Now you have the Indian Army and NDRF at the scene, sifting through the debris and looking for any sign of life.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was at SSKM on Wednesday. He let reporters know that 18 of the 20 inpatients are out of the woods. The job at hand, as officials put it, is to keep the rest stable and make an inventory of everyone who was there.
Arrests made as probe gathers pace
Three have been taken in by the police over the collapse. They are a building supervisor and two from the labour side, so the focus is on what happened at site level and how the work was put in place.
Then there is the West Bengal government, which has formed an SIT to get to the bottom of it. Assistant Commissioner of Police Joysurja Mukherjee is in charge, so it is a senior-level operation.
Hirak Dalapati (DD) is the new IO on the case. He is joined by Debasis Dutta of the Homicide Squad and Sarfaraz Ahmed from the Anti-Rowdy unit, both inspectors (DD).
They’ve also brought in Sub-Inspectors Manas Bhattacharya and Kushal Mondal of the Taratala station. It’s a mix of homicide, anti-rowdy and local know-how, which should make for a thorough look at the evidence.
Key official actions so far
Here is what the authorities have set in motion:
– Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin
– Rs 50,000 for the injured
– Three in handcuffs over the matter
– An SIT to head up the investigation
What the response means on the ground
For the families, the Rs 2 lakh from the PMNRF is some measure of comfort while the formal process runs its course. For the 20 with injuries, the money is to cover the costs of getting well.
The PMO put it on X that the Centre is in step with the state. That kind of co-ordination is what you need when the Army and NDRF are holding down the site and the hospitals are full.
What comes next
The rescue is not over and the SIT is in position, so you can expect them to put together the story – the timelines, the contractors, the supervision. The police say the arrests are for the sake of the record and will inform where the inquiry goes from here.
No one is giving a date for when the probe will be done. Right now, it is about tending to the victims, making sure we know who was there, and seeing that the ex-gratia is in the hands of those entitled to it without delay.
