KATHMANDU, July 5: After three days of the wall collapse that killed two students and 24 others injured at Pushpanjali Secondary School in Badegaun, Godavari, the government on Monday formed a five-member panel with Joint Secretary Krishna Prasad Raut of the home ministry as coordinator.
The government has also given the panel seven days to probe the incident and submit the report to the ministry. According to home ministry spokesperson Yadav Prasad Koirala, the government will take action on the basis of the panel's report.
According to the Home Ministry, the other members of the panel are -- Joint Secretary Dilli Ram Rimal of the Ministry of Education, Joint Secretary Gopi Krishna Khanal of the Ministry of Local Development, DIG Bijaya Lal Kayastha of Nepal Police and Director Rajendra Kumar Khatra of National Intelligence Department.
Land developers, school responsible for wall collapse: Panel
The committee is likely to visit the wall collapse site Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Range Office, Lalitpur said it has also intensified investigation into the incident but has not been able to trace the land developer, whose wall collapse had killed the children. The land developer has been accused of ignoring the requests made by the school administration against erecting such a huge wall so close to the school.
The retaining wall had collapsed into Class III and VIII of the school, burying the students studying in the classrooms with prefabricated walls.
“Though the family members have come into contact, the land developer has remained incommunicado. His mobile phones are switched off,” SSP Pitambar Adhikari, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Range Office, Lalitpur, said. Police are also trying to trace the partners if any in the land plotting. Police said most of the students injured during the accident have returned home after treatment.
