New Delhi, April 19 -- Eleven people, including three children, were killed after a four-storey building collapsed in north-east Delhi's Shakti Vihar in the early hours of Saturday. The incident also left 11 persons injured. A CCTV camera installed at a nearby building captured the moment the building came down crashing, showing a thick cloud of dust filling the narrow alley. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Delhi Fire Services, police along with locals carried out the rescue operation for more than 12 hours at the site of the 20-year-old building in the Mustafabad area that collapsed around 3 am on Saturday.
Officials said the area being highly congested made the rescue efforts all the more challenging. According to police, there were 22 people inside the building at the time of the incident, most of them families. The owner of the building, Tehseen (60), and six members of his family were among the 11 deceased, officials said. They have been identified as Tehseen's son Nazeem (30), two daughters-in-law Shahina (28) and Chandni (23), and three grandchildren, Anas (6), Afreen (2) and Afan (2). The others who lost their lives in the tragic incident were Danish (23) and Naved (17), who were brothers, Reshma (38) and Ishaq (75), officials said. "We have lost an entire generation of our family in just one moment," said a grieving Bhulan, brother of Tehseen whose family lived on the first floor.
One of Tehseen's sons -- Aas Mohammad -- was killed in the 2020 north-east Delhi riots There were four shops on the ground floor while the rest of the building was being used by tenants. Anxious about the whereabouts of their loved ones, the inconsolable relatives of the victims kept looking in the debris even as the rescue operation lasted for hours. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to those who lost their loved ones and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000 each. A police source said that construction work in "two-three shops" on the ground floor could have led to the collapse. The locals also said that construction work was going on at a new shop, which could have triggered the collapse. They also expressed concern about the fragile state of four to five buildings in the area. Waste sewer water has been seeping into the walls of many buildings in the area for years, and over time, the moisture has weakened the structures, causing the walls to develop cracks, Salim Ali, a local resident, said. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said in a statement that the building was around 20 years old and was not structurally stable.
The civic body said that a survey of the area will be carried out, adding that several buildings in the locality, including the one that collapsed, were not structurally stable. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence, the MCD said. "It felt like an earthquake. The floor shook beneath us and before we could understand anything, everything was covered in dust," Ryan, who lives next to the building that collapsed, said. "We thought maybe something hit our house but when we looked out, the entire building next to us had turned to rubble," he added. Sehjhad Ahmad lost two nephews, Danish and Naved, who stayed on the third-floor of the building with their parents -- Ahmad's sister and brother-in-law. "Both my nephews were the breadwinners of the family. They ran the entire household. Now they are gone," he said. A case has been registered under sections 290 (Negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings, etc), 106 (Causing death by negligence), 125 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 125(a) (Punishment for act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the owner of the building who died in the incident. A police officer said the case is likely to be closed after inquest proceedings or the investigation involving the main accused may shift its focus to the living co-accused or related circumstances. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has ordered a probe into the incident after expressed grief.
Police said they received information about the building collapse around 3.02 am at Dayalpur police station. A team rushed to Gali No. 1 in Shakti Vihar, where 22 people were reported to be buried under the debris. Rescue teams of the NDRF, Delhi Fire Services (DFS), and ambulance services were immediately pressed into action, officials said. After being pulled out of the rubble, the injured were rushed to the GTB Hospital. NDRF DIG Mohsen Shahidi told media, "We call this a 'pancake collapse' -- a particularly dangerous type where chances of survival are minimal." He said the debris was cleared slowly as it was a highly-congested area, making the rescue efforts challenging. The use of heavy machinery was limited due to space constraints, Shahidi said. AAP chief and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has also extended his condolences to the bereaved families. "I appeal to all the party workers to fully cooperate with the administration in relief and rescue operations," Kejriwal said in a post on X. Atishi, the leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, also expressed grief over the incident and urged the AAP workers in Mustafabad to support the authorities in the rescue efforts.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.