Building caved in due to illegal construction on adjacent plot
Tragedy struck the congested Inderlok area in North Delhi where a four-storey building collapsed killing 10 people, including five children, and leaving two others injured on Saturday around 8.40am. The 50-year-old building, 313/4C, caved in like pack of cards as it foundation was weakened due to illegal construction on the adjacent plot.
The building was occupied by 14 people belonging to four different families who were residing on different floors.
The menace of illegal construction, negligence on the part of the civic authorities and a deep-rooted nexus among building mafia, police, and MCD officials was clearly indicated in the reaction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) which spared no time in suspending the assistant engineer and the junior engineer of the area and ordering a probe. Sources said that the lieutenant-Governor is closely monitoring the situation and is constantly in touch with senior officials.
North Delhi Mayor Yogendra Chandolia reached the spot and assured guilty officials will be punished.
“Two officials have been suspended. No one will be spared,” he told the media present at the site of tragedy. Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including Ashutosh also reached the spot.
The four-storey building built on a plinth area of 25 square yards was 50-year old. The horrendous collapse was triggered by the construction activity in the adjacent plot. It appears that the soil lost its grip after digging began in the adjacent plot.
The four-storey building had an empty 20 square yards plot which was lying vacant. Around two months back, the digging on the plot began and continued despite repeated request by residents to stop it. The work was being carried out in such a hurry that the contractor had constructed a pillar and a wall in no time.
Eyewitnesses claimed that initially they thought that a few bricks are falling down but in split seconds it came down as pack of cards. A PCR call was received at the Inderlok Check post around 8.56 am and the police soon rushed to the spot. The administration got into the act and teams from disaster management, civil defence, fire brigade and CATS ambulances joined the rescue operation.
Four fire tenders along with the heavy duty machines and excavators reached the spot to remove the debris and rescue the trapped persons. The rescue operations continued till the afternoon and three bodies were recovered in the final stages of the rescue operations.
The rescued persons were rushed to Acharya Bhikshu and Bara Hindu Rao hospitals where 10 were declared brought dead while two others are undergoing treatment. The deceased have been identified as Asif (10), Adiba (14), Rehan (7), Mohammad Izaz (24), Mohammad Uzale (22), Imtiyaz (24), Rubina (30), Sahana (28), Sabba (5) and Abdul Aadib (7). The injured who are under treatment at Bara Hindu Rao hospital are Abdul Rashid (38) and Mohammad Naeem (39). Two persons Pappu and Tanveer who resided in the same building were not present in the building when the tragedy struck and are thus safe. Mohammad Izaz was an MBA student from Darbhanga in Bihar.
“Based on the statement of Abdul Rashid, who owns the building and is also one of the injured, a case under section 304A was registered at the Sarai Rohilla police station against the adjacent building owner. The owner and the contractor of the adjacent building identified as Javed is currently absconding,” said Deputy Commissioner of police (North) Madhur Verma.