Shahjahanpur: A day after three labourers died in a roof collapse of an under-construction school here, their kin and neighbours blocked an arterial road near the district hospital on Monday demanding ex-gratia for the bereaved families.Nearly an hour-long blockade, starting around 9am, saw huge traffic jams, prompting ADM (administration) Vandita Srivastava swung into action to tackle the situation.The blockade, however, was lifted only after the ADM announced “an ex-gratia of Rs 12 lakh each to next of kin of the three victims”. Besides this, an immediate relief of Rs 50,000 each will be provided to the victims’ kin.The administration has, however, not announced any financial relief for the 15 injured labourers.DM Amrit Tripathi said, “An immediate relief of Rs 50,000 will be given under the Unregistered Labour Act, while Rs 5 lakh would be sanctioned from the chief minister’s accidental insurance policy. An amount of Rs 6 to 7 lakh each would be given under the Employee Compensation Act. We have communicated all these information to the protesting family members of the deceased. Besides, we will take strict action against the guilty persons.”In the meantime, the 12-hour-long rescue operation was called off at 3am on Monday after rescuers did not find any labourer trapped inside the school.The district administration has lodged an FIR against school owner Brijendra Singh Sahni, architect Jasdeep Singh Lamba, contractor Rajiv Kumar and engineer Neeraj Gautam under sections 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing building), 304 ( punishment for culpable homicide not amount to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).Rajiv, a contractor who was present inside the building along with labourers, also got injured and was admitted to the district hospital under supervision of police. “I am working under main contractor Manoj, And, Manoj is working under engineer Lamba. I am a poor person, thus I was working along with labourers at the time of accident,” Rajiv told TOI.Additional superintendent of police (city) Dinesh Tripathi told TOI that police had started investigation. “Primarily, it appears to be a case of sheer negligence on the part of the persons named in the FIR. The proprietor, engineer and architect are yet to be arrested, while the contractor is recovering at the hospital.”

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