Hyderabad, February 06: Little did construction labourers Manjula (28) and Yadaiah (52) from Ghanpur of Medak district know on Friday morning that they were lucky enough to remain alive, when the head mason of the under-construction building, which collapsed in Narayanguda, told them not to come for work.
With the five-storeyed building they had been constructing getting reduced to rubble, their mental state is ineffable, as they don’t know if they should be happy for being in one piece or should worry about their co-workers who got trapped .
“We had lunch with Yadamma, who went to resume her work in the afternoon at the building. It was not even an hour since she left for work when we heard a loud thud .
I’m worried about her, as she told us that her work for the day was on the fourth floor,’’ Manjula told Expresso. She informed that Yadamma (27) is from her neighbouring village .
Yadaiah recalled that he didn’t even have an inkling fo the fate to befell when he met head mason Prakash in the morning for work .
“Prakash told me that there was some electrification work that needed to be done for the day. He also informed me not to bring Manjula and her sister, as they didn’t have any work,’’ he shared .
Even as Yadamma’s elder son Raju (9), who is old enough to understand the situation but was not being allowed to go near the collapsed building, his younger brother Sravan (7) was seen playing near the make-shift home in the midst of the high-rise business complexes at Narayanguda .
According to the construction labourers involved in the building work, there are around 16 people in it at the time of collapse. “All of us are from the same district .
Some of us stay at Barkatpura and the rest are put up here,” Yadaiah said, pointing at his tarpaulin tent nearby .
Of the 16, six were masons, five were women construction workers, one watchman (Mallayya, 50) and the rest were electricians, the workers said .
–Agencies