'GOT A CALL SAYING OUR SON WAS NOT FOUND…' Father, uncle of survivor recall building collapse night

NT Bengaluru: On the night of October 22, a sixstory under-construction building collapsed into rubble in Babusapalya. Lal Arman, whose 23-year-old son, Mohammed Arman, worked in that building, received a phone call in Tajpur, Samastipur district, Bihar. “It was from my brother, Mohammed Sitari, who’s also a construction worker in the adjacent Vaddarapalya here,” Lal said, providing context for the story. The death toll from the illegal building has risen to nine.

This collapse has sent shockwaves across the country and prompted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to crack down on such illegal structures. Sitari, who rushed to Babusapalya, kept updating his brother on the rescue operations. “The initial information we got was that two people were rescued by 11:30 pm that night. Then we suddenly got a call that they could not find Arman,” he said. This is when the family in Tajpur, Samastipur district, Bihar, began to fear the worst. “I had to hide it from my wife and kids!” Lal recalled as he reached Bengaluru the following day. He described the wait for news about his son in the hospital as a long ordeal. He recalled it with tears in his eyes. “The authorities did not let us meet him until 3 in the afternoon on Wednesday. I lost sleep and skipped meals until I finally saw Mohammed, which brought me great relief. We truly understand what sadness is only when we face it,” he stated.

Arman is currently undergoing treatment at Hosmat Hospital for kidney failure and awaits surgery for a broken thigh and calf bone in his left leg following the incident. “His kidneys failed due to the pressure from the rubble falling on him. He is on dialysis as we speak,” said a nurse in the ICU ward. Regarding the building itself, Sitari alleged that it was constructed using “substandard materials.” “There was virtually no foundation laid. I only found this out after the collapse. Only four floors were permitted, but seven floors were planned,” he alleged. Caption: From left: Mohammed Sitari, the uncle, and Lal Arman, father of 23-year-old Mohammed Arman, survivor of the illegal under-construction multistorey building in Babusapalya, Bengaluru.