It's with heavy heart I am breaking the news that was not covered in any news media yet: Yesterday morning a man fell from the third floor of the building he was living in in Bajothang town, and was declared dead upon reaching hospital.
Let me present to you a brief background of how buildings are in Bajothang: All structures have attic on the third floor, which has a controversial background of its own. Attics are restricted to certain height and are not allowed to have verandas. Now, you may wonder how the man fell at all. The restriction on veranda was well imposed but the house owners have created a platform across the third floor which can be accessed through either a door or a big window. All commercial apartments have similar features and I am sure authorities have seen it but since it didn't look like veranda no action was taken against it. Therefore you could see people drying clothes outside the windows of third floor without any safety railings.
look at the attic! |
I wish to see some news media come and not just report the news but also make people answer a few questions on the safety of the attic dwellers.
When owner is responsible for having veranda/platform which is not allowed he/she should be accountable for the consequences.. it is not the fault of dwellers!! I offer my Condolence to him and his family!!
ReplyDeleteOh Sir, I didn't hear of the news. It is sad to know. When I first reached here, and realized how windy it gets, I asked one of my friends not to keep flower pots on the verandah edges whereby staircase landings are present. We either see the flower pots on verandah edges or on the attic cornices, I always thought that some flower pots will break some body's head as well. Happens to be the opposite building of KPS, that too from attic. Not sure those still exists or not.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments- Sangay and Dawa.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is published in The Bhutanese on March 1 Read here
and after over a month Kuensel ran an independent story on the issue. Read Here