![Bengaluru [Karnataka], Apr 30 (ANI): A visual of the remains of the compound wall that collapsed near the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital on Wednesday amid heavy rainfall, causing several casualties in Shivajinagar, Bengaluru, on Thursday. (ANI Video Grab)](https://staticprintenglish.theprint.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/bengaluru-wall-collapse-696x392.jpg "bengaluru wall collapse")
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Thursday ordered a thorough inspection of all hospital buildings across Bengaluru after an 8-foot wall of the state-run Bowring Hospital collapsed the previous evening following heavy rains, killing seven people in India’s infotech capital.
Bengaluru Wednesday experienced heavy rainfall, gusty winds and hailstones—some the size of cricket balls—throwing life out of gear across many localities.
Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, Karnataka’s minister of Medical Education & Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, on Thursday visited Bowring Hospital in the capital’s central business district. “An inquiry headed by the chief engineer of the public works department (PWD) is being conducted into the hospital compound tragedy and further action will be decided once the report is received,” he said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar also visited the site of the tragedy late Wednesday. Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, said the government would discuss the issue at a cabinet meet scheduled for Thursday evening.
Siddaramaiah ordered the suspension of the executive engineer concerned and issued notices to others, including the hospital management. The chief minister held a meeting with Greater Bengaluru Authority (GA) officials and others, assessing the damage due to the rains and to check monsoon preparedness.
“There was a lot of damage in the rains that occurred in Bengaluru yesterday, and more than 250 trees fell. Seven people died. A compensation of Rs 5 lakh has already been announced for the families of the deceased,” he said in a statement.
Siddaramaiah has ordered pruning trees deemed to be dry and dangerous. He said that precautions like de-silting Storm Water Drains (SWD), garbage, debris clearance and tree-pruning should be taken immediately.
Most of those who died in Wednesday’s collapse were street vendors operating their businesses along the walls of the busy Borwing Hospital in Bengaluru’s Shivajinagar locality.
There were reports of heavy rain across several localities in Bengaluru. Videos of the hail near the Catholic Club flanked by Brigade Road in the heart of the city and other parts went viral on social media. The high-rise poles that hold up safety nets at the Bengaluru Golf Course (BGC), opposite the CM’s home and office, or ‘Krishna’, also came apart, exacerbating traffic congestion and adding to distress for commuters.
‘Deepening civic crisis’
In July 2010, 17-year-old Sanjana Singh was killed when the wall of a government veterinary college collapsed on her as she took refuge from the rain. The contractor in that case, Munirathana, then a Congress corporator in the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the city’s civic body, was accused of using sub-standard material in building the 7-foot wall. Munirathna has since joined the BJP, served as a state minister and is the incumbent legislator from Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru.
Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka on Thursday slammed the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government for the “deepening civic crisis” in Bengaluru. He said that the wall collapse must serve as a “wake-up call” for the government.
“The tragic incident at Bowring Hospital, where a wall collapse claimed seven lives, including that of a young girl child, has shaken the entire city. No civilised society should accept a reality where citizens lose their lives to potholes, exposed electric wires, or collapsing structures. It is even more alarming when such failures occur in a city like Bengaluru – the economic backbone of the nation,” he said in a social media platform X.
Ashoka added that the incident cannot be dismissed as an “act of nature” to deflect attention away from the incident. He posed several questions to the government over its preparedness to tackle any such vagaries during the monsoon season later this year.
“With the monsoon still weeks away, what concrete steps has the government taken so far? Have there been review meetings on rain preparedness? Have authorities acted on repairing dilapidated structures, fixing dangerous electric lines, clearing stormwater drains, or addressing waterlogging in low-lying areas and underpasses? If even basic precautionary measures had been taken, could this tragedy have been prevented? The Congress government must wake up at least now,” he said.
Rampant encroachment of natural canals, lakes, rapid erosion of green cover and concretisation has adversely affected Bengaluru, flooding streets even after short spells of rain. Successive governments have spent thousands of crores on the development of Bengaluru, but the problems invariably resurface during monsoons with frequent flooding, choking traffic and widespread damage to property. Many lives have also been lost over the years.
“A dedicated task force should be constituted immediately to overhaul Bengaluru’s crumbling infrastructure and ensure robust monsoon preparedness. Every possible preventive step must be taken to safeguard lives. If this continued neglect persists, the responsibility for every future tragedy and every life lost will lie squarely with the government,” Ashoka said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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