Srinivas had been inspecting the quality of work along with senior district officials at the time of the incident, which took place around 2.45 pm at the Indiramma Housing Colony site on the outskirts of Vemulawada.
Published Nov 25, 2025 | 5:50 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 25, 2025 | 5:57 PM
Alert police personnel and the MLA’s personal staff acted swiftly, pulling the legislator and officials to safety. No one sustained injuries.
Synopsis: Telangana Congress MLA Adi Srinivas narrowly escaped injury after the basement of an under-construction Indiramma housing scheme unit collapsed during his inspection in Vemulawada. The incident, captured on video and widely shared online, left the MLA fuming over the “criminal negligence” of the contractor. The district administration has halted work, ordered a technical inquiry and issued notices to the contractor.
Telangana Congress MLA and Government Whip Adi Srinivas narrowly escaped injury when the basement of an under-construction 2BHK housing complex in Vemulawada town, part of the Government’s Indiramma housing scheme, collapsed without warning on the afternoon of Tuesday, 25 November.
Srinivas had been inspecting the quality of work along with senior district officials at the time of the incident, which took place around 2.45 pm at the Indiramma Housing Colony site on the outskirts of the temple town.
Footage of the collapse, captured by a bystander and now circulating widely on social media, showed Srinivas, District Collector Garima Agarwal and several officials, engineers and contractors standing on the freshly cast basement slab when it gave way without warning.
Alert police personnel and the MLA’s personal staff acted swiftly, pulling the legislator and officials to safety. No one sustained injuries.
Eyewitness accounts stated that the group had just stepped onto the slab to examine the centring work and concrete quality when a loud cracking sound was heard. Within seconds, a large portion of the slab caved in, creating a crater-like depression.
Immediately after the incident, Srinivas flew into a rage over the “criminal negligence” of the contractor and engineers.
“This is a clear case of corruption. Substandard material has been used. Had people been living here, many lives would have been lost. I will not spare anyone responsible,” the Congress told reporters.
The collapsed structure is part of a block costing approximately Rs 1.8 crore, awarded to a Hyderabad-based private contractor in June.
Sources revealed that the basement slab was cast only ten to twelve days ago and had not yet achieved full curing strength, raising questions about whether proper load-bearing tests were conducted before allowing the inspection by the MLA and others.
The district collector has ordered an immediate suspension of all construction activity at the site.
A three-member technical committee comprising engineers from the Roads and Buildings Department and NIT Warangal has been constituted to probe the cause of the collapse and submit a report within seven days.
The contractor and site engineer have been issued show-cause notices. Srinivas said he will write to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy demanding a magisterial inquiry and blacklisting of the erring firm.
The Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was quick to attack the ruling Congress, terming the incident “a symbol of the government’s hollow promises and corrupt practices in housing projects.”
Former minister and BRS senior leader T Harish Rao posted the viral video with the caption: “Congress promised dignity houses, delivered death traps.”
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
