The AP government has taken action based on the report of the fact-finding committee that determined that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the contractor and officials. It has ordered the suspension of seven officials from the Endowment and Tourism Department. The government has decided to blacklist the contractor. It has decided to take criminal action against the contractor Lakshminarayana and two officials.
The government has suspended Simhachalam Devasthanam EO Subba Rao, EE Srinivasaraju, APTDC EE Ramana, Simhachalam Devasthanam Deputy EE KSN Murthy, APTDC Deputy EE ABV LR Swamy, APTDC AE Madan Mohan, and Simhachalam Devasthanam JE Babji. The three-member commission has submitted a report to the government on the wall collapse incident in Simhachalam.
The chairman of the commission and secretary of the municipal administration department, Suresh Kumar, submitted a preliminary report to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Seven devotees died in the tragic incident of a wall collapse in Simhachalam due to heavy rains on the day of Chandanotsavam on April 30.
The commission’s preliminary report stated that the temporary wall did not even have a foundation. The commission opined that the wall collapsed due to the weight of the heavy rains due to the accumulation of large amounts of water and mud. The report also revealed that there were no leap holes for the water to drain below the wall.
It was clarified that the wall was built in a hurry a week before the Chandanotsavam. Devotees have been standing in queues since past midnight to have the real darshan of Simhadri Appanna Swamy, which is available only once a year. Seven devotees died when the wall collapsed.
All of them died when the wall collapsed due to heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds. Four of them belong to the same family. All the deceased are from Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. The entire area of Simhachalam was filled with a sense of sadness that day, with the cries of the victims and their families.
