Kolhapur: A 65-year-old woman from Ozare village in Jawali tehsil of Satara district died after the wall of a Zilla Parishad school fell on her, following heavy rain and wind on Wednesday evening.The deceased woman has been identified as Shantabai Lakde. Her husband, Baburao Lakde, had passed away during the Covid pandemic and she had been living alone at home since then.Upon being informed, Jawali tehsildar Praveen Mugdal and group development officer Dr Nilesh Patil visited the spot of the deadly wall collapse. Mudgal said, “Around 5.30pm on Wednesday, Shantabai, noticed heavy winds and went to fetch firewood from the ZP school behind her house, fearing an imminent downpour. At this time, the cement brick wall on the second floor of the multi-storeyed school building suddenly collapsed on her. Shantabai died on the spot due to serious injuries suffered.”Villagers have alleged that the construction of the school building is of poor quality. The wall was made of cement and bricks but was not plastered. “We are investigating why the wall was left in such a dangerous condition. If the incident had occurred during school hours, it could have caused a major disaster,” admitted Mudgal.Meanwhile, at Nave Pragaon village in Hatkanangle tehsil of Kolhapur district, over 2,000 hens of a poultry farm died due to heavy rain and lightning experienced in the wee hours of Wednesday. The tin shed of poultry farmer Dhanajij Hankare was blown down due to strong winds, resulting in the death of the hens due to heavy rain. The farmer faced losses of Rs2.5 lakh in this incident.As per India Meteorological Department (IMD), the districts of Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and Solapur are on yellow alert till April 25. Heavy rain with lightning and thunderstorms are expected to be received in isolated parts of these districts. While daytime temperatures remained high and humid, no rain was reported anywhere in the south-central Maharashtra region on Thursday till 8pm.
