Two policemen and a civic volunteer, who had gone to conduct an inquiry in central Kolkata, were injured after concrete chunks from the sunshade of a building along Rabindra Sarani fell on them on Tuesday.
The accident happened around 2.40pm shortly after the city had received rain as an impact of Cyclone Asani.
Sub inspectors Vaibhav Shroff, 38, and Parimal Adak, 57, and civic volunteer Baburam Dutta, 42 — who are attached with Burrabazar police station — were walking along Rabindra Sarani when concrete chunks started falling from a building there, a police officer said. Before they could take cover, chunks landed on them.
Adaj, who received head injuries, started bleeding on the spot. Shroff received facial injuries while Dutta received injuries on his shoulder. All three are in hospital.
The police said the building that had both residences and commercial establishments was not dilapidated but the part of the sunshade that came off was partially broken and had been soaked in the rain on Tuesday.
Mahesh Kumar Sharma, councillor of Ward 42 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation where the accident happened, said the building was very old and had not been repaired.
“This is the biggest problem. Landlords do not repair the buildings. Tenants neither increase the rent nor vacate the place. The condition of the buildings suffers.”