Portion of heritage building of Maharani’s College collapses

A portion of the first floor of the 106-year-old heritage building of Maharani’s Science College for Women collapsed in Mysuru, on Friday. Nobody was hurt. However, equipment and materials of Chemistry and Zoology laboratories, worth over Rs 40 lakh has been crushed, due to the impact of the debris.

Copious rains in the city over the past few days is said to be the cause for the collapse. The main portion of the collapse comprises the Chemistry laboratory and the students were expected to attend lab classes by 10:30 AM. However, by 10:15 AM, department head K K Padmanabha observed widening of cracks on the walls, mainly surrounding windows, and alerted the principal, D Ravi.

The principal visited the laboratory, inspected the situation, when small portions of the plaster were still falling down. He asked the staff to cut off power connection to the portion of the laboratory and lock it, as a precautionary measure.

Even as HoD Padmanabha and principal Ravi were coming down, the portion of the laboratory collapsed. No one was hurt, as the staff took precautionary measures.

Ravi said bhoomi puja for the renovation and strengthening of the building was scheduled for Saturday, October 23, but the collapse occurred a day before that. “Due to the copious rains, the cracks on the walls and ceiling had increased over the past few days,” he said.

The 106-year-old college was established in 1917 and now has 3,850 students, 350 teaching faculty in 50 undergraduate and post-graduate departments, and 50 office staff. Thirty students, per batch, used to attend the laboratory classes.