Heavy rain: Old school building on Mangaluru city’s outskirts collapses

An old school building collapsed following heavy rainfall at Kinya Belaringe on the city’s outskirts on Monday night.

The Gram Panchayat had appealed to the education department to demolish the old building a few years ago.

“The roof of the building was destroyed,” said Gram Panchayat member Siraj Kinya.

DDPI Sudhakar told DH that the department had submitted a proposal to the panchayat raj engineering division on demolishing the old building.

Mangaluru South Block Education Officer (BEO) Prashanth Kumar said classes were not being conducted in the building. However, a few classes are conducted in the nearby Madrasa building.

The work on the new building of the school is in progress and all classes will be shifted to the new building soon, he added.

The rain continued to lash parts of Dakshina Kannada on Tuesday. The sky remained overcast throughout the day.

A huge boulder fell on a road near Karinjeshwara Temple in Bantwal on Monday night.

The forest department personnel cleared the trees that had fallen along with the boulder.

On Tuesday too another boulder has also slipped from its position. The IMD sounded a red alert on Wednesday.

Rain in Udupi

Heavy rain lashed across the Udupi district on Monday night, resulting in damage to houses and electricity poles.

A woman identified as Saroja, suffered injuries after lightning struck her house in Kote, in Kaup taluk.

Around 10 houses and three cowsheds in Kundapura taluk were damaged.

Two houses in Karkala, Brahmavar and a house in Udupi were also damaged.

‘Stop construction works’

Meanwhile, Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Akshy Sridhar has directed the building contractors to stop all construction in the wake of the onset of the monsoon.

The MCC commissioner in a public notice said, “The building contractors in MCC limits are hereby informed to stop all construction work due to the onset of monsoon season. There are chances of rain till May 19 and the rainy season is expected to commence in June. Construction work can resume post this period.”

Further, he said that levelling of hills may lead to landslides and cause inconvenience to the public. Therefore, there will be a complete ban on levelling of hills and the transportation of soil.

Ongoing construction work must be taken up without causing any damage to the nearby property. Safety walls must be constructed in steep and narrow plots and an appropriate method of construction must be followed, he added.

In case of violation, the offenders will be booked as per the KMC laws, the commissioner warned.