India, July 12 -- A 45-year-old man died early on Friday when three ageing multi-storey commercial buildings collapsed near a Delhi Metro tunneling site in Azad Market, north Delhi. The incident occurred around 2am, shortly after midnight, in Pul Mithai-within the "influence zone" of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)'s Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg corridor tunnelling project.

DMRC announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs.5 lakh for the victim's family and said it had written to the owners of the buildings before tunnelling work started, declaring the structures unsafe and requesting evacuation.

The buildings-two four-storey structures and one with three floors-were around 30 years old and housed shops and godowns dealing in bags...