“It is not an accident, but a manmade disaster, which killed 17 members of poor families. Why no action has been taken against those responsible for the mishap and against officials for not taking preventive steps. The AIADMK government wakes up only after an incident to provide compensation and goes into sleep until another occurrence,” he said.

The Congress leader also demanded an enhanced compensation of Rs 25 lakh, government jobs to qualified persons and new houses for the affected families.

CPI State Secretary R Mutharasan said that the wall collapse incident has been caused by negligence of the district administration and government. “In 1998, the CPI gave a petition to Collector against the wall. Again on 13, October, 2018, a signature campaign was organized and a petition submitted with signatures of 60 persons to officials. Yet, the officials failed to act,” he said.

Film director Pa Ranjith urged the government to invoke SC/ST act against the house owner for killing 17 persons in the wall collapse incident. “The government should identify similar discriminatory walls and demolish them. Until Dalits come to power; their struggles and demands will continue to remain unheard,” he said.