Mumbai: Students at a prominent engineering college in Bandra had a scary moment last week when one of the lifts faced a sudden snag. While a student said that the malfunction resulted in the lift “falling” from the second floor of the building, the college insisted that the lift merely “slipped” down a floor.
However, no injury was reported.
The elevator scare
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a student from Thadomal Shahani Engineering College (TSEC) said that on September 27, while moving upwards, the overcrowded lift came to a halt and had a sharp fall to the basement floor, resulting in panic among the passengers. “It happened in a matter of few seconds. The lights were flickering and the lift was shaking. We were all screaming. The doors opened after we hit the ground. It was a complete mayhem,” said the student.
While the student claimed that a similar incident occurred again on September 30, the college principal and a faculty member denied it.
Gopakumaran Thampi, the principal, claimed that the lift came down rather gradually, and that too from the ground floor to the basement. “There was a little slippage as some construction material had fallen on the ropeway of the lift, It has now been cleared and the lift is functioning properly,” he said.
Principal and faculty members trying to create panic: Principal
The principal also claimed that the students and some faculty members are purposely creating panic to force the college to move from physical to offline lectures.
The college has two buildings, an 11-storied and another six-storied. The incident occurred in the former, which has two lifts, one of which is being replaced. The college had ordered the replacement of both lifts last year, but it was delayed due to a dispute with the contractor. With one of the lifts unavailable due to construction work, the only working lift is handling the entire load of passengers. It will need another two months for both the new lifts to be installed.
