Around 8:30am, the building on a 22 square yards plot came down like a pack of cards. Mohammed Naeem, 39, who was on the third floor and suffered a severe head injury, recalled those moments of terror. "I had just taken my bath and was about to put on my shirt when I felt the building shaking. Before I could realize what was happening, our building had tilted towards the house across the lane and then collapsed, bringing me down with it," he said.
As a routine reaction, North Delhi Municipal Corporation has suspended the junior engineer, Kaushik, and assistant engineer, R A Goel, in charge of the area, pending an inquiry ordered by the commissioner, P K Gupta. But the rot has gone so deep that mostly such probes fail to fix any accountability.
READ ALSO: Old Delhi building collapse kills 3 labourers
Naeem said work had been going on for a fortnight to construct a basement on the adjacent plot. This was a 18 square yards plot where an old building had been demolished 20 days back. No building plan had been sanctioned, corporation officials said. "We had complained to the municipal corporation that the construction was illegal but they did not take any action," said Naeem, who works in a factory. Since his fall had been broken, he landed on top of the debris and was among the first to be rescued. However, his wife and three kids died in the incident.
Other residents too complained to TOI that several distress calls had been made to the police and corporation in apprehension of such an eventuality but they turned a deaf ear. "Naeem had several times approached the cops, even when the adjacent building was demolished. Digging started and again people from the same lane had gone to complain to the corporation and cops. But no one took an action. They are all responsible for the disaster," said Mohammad Shakeel, elder brother of Naeem, who was among the injured.
Corporation officials blamed the contractor for not taking any approval before commencing the digging work. "It seems, they had dug 15-foot deep pits to erect pillars and in this process they might have damaged the foundation of the neighbouring building. The building itself did not have a very strong foundation," said an official. It is, however, common knowledge that no construction in any area in the capital can escape the notice of corporation officials and cops. They are usually paid off to look the other way, and when such an incident happens, they escape with what amounts to just a rap on the wrist.
The victims were rushed to Hindu Rao Hospital in Malka Ganj and Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital in Moti Nagar. Two of the injured - Naeem (39) and Mohd Rashid (38) are still undergoing treatment at Hindu Rao while Asif (10), Adeeba (14), Rehan (7), Rubina (30), Shahana (28), Shabba (5), Abdul Adeeb (7), Mohd Ijaaz (24), Mohd Uzaale (22) and Imtiaz Ali (24) were declared brought dead.
People in the neighbourhood said that when the building collapsed, the ground under their feet shook. "Our first thought was that it was an earthquake," said Anas Khan, who lives on the other side of the collapsed building. He said that when the dust settled, he saw the entire structure had simply collapsed. "In the morning, I had seen some labourers working at the construction site near the building," he added. Khan said his first impulse was to save his son and wife, who were sleeping near a wall that was damaged in the collapse.
READ ALSO: Collapse no surprise, most homes perilously poised
Mohd Faiz's house, across the lane, bore the immediate impact of the collapse. When the building crashed, it damaged the facade of Faiz's home.
A case of causing death due to negligence under section 304A of IPC has been registered and the culpability is being established, a senior police officer said.
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