Three more bodies, including that of a nine-year-old girl, were on Sunday pulled out of the debris, taking the death toll in West Delhi building collapse to five. The under-construction four-storey building collapsed in a narrow lane in Vishnu Garden area of West Delhi on Saturday night leaving six people critically injured. Two others sustained minor injuries.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government has ordered an enquiry into the tragedy. Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satyendra Jain has asked the district magistrate (DM) of West district to submit a factual report on the collapse within seven days. The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against unidentified persons.
The deceased have been identified as Akanksha (9), Sadma (20), Om Prakash (60), Beena (45) and Sarbati (35), police said. The number of casualties would have been more but due to Eid Festival, other residents of the building had gone to their villages.
According to the District Magistrate’s office, District Disaster Management Authority (West), a building in S Block of Gali Number 7 in Vishnu Garden area of West Delhi collapsed around 9 pm on Saturday.
“Immediately calls were made by Emergency Operation Centre (W) to various departments such as Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Police, SDMC, PWD, Civil Defence etc,” said an official.
Eight fire tenders, teams of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), local police and officials from district administration rushed to the spot and carried out the rescue operations at the site.
A senior official of Fire Department said, “We received a call about the building collapse at 9.07 pm and immediately eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot to rescue the affected people. It is a four-storey building and many people were feared trapped.”
local residents, however, claimed that the administration did nothing initially. “We rescued about seven people before the rescue team arrived,” said a local resident.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government blamed the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for its failure to ensure compliance with safety standards, charges which the civic body denied.
“People have told me that construction has been going on and the entire building has collapsed on one side due to which four people have died and eight others were injured,” said Delhi PWD Minister Satyendera Jain.
He alleged that the SDMC was responsible for the tragedy. “Whatever construction work was going on, the SDMC had full responsibility to stop it, which it should have done... The Government has ordered an investigation by the District Magistrate of the area, and the report will be submitted within seven days,” he said, adding that “strict action will be taken against the culprits”.
On the other hand, SDMC rebutted that the building was 25 years old and no building laws were violated, while alleging that the foundation of the building was damaged due to ‘seepage of sewer line’.
“A sewer line was laid in the area about it three months ago; seepage in it weakened the foundation of the building, which led to the collapse,” a senior SDMC official claimed
Meanwhile, DCP (West Delhi), Pushpendra Kumar, said that an FIR under Section 304 of IPC (causing death by negligence) has been registered against unknown persons in connection with the wall collapse.