A small portion of a ceiling in a closed eatery in Delhi’s iconic Connaught Place market collapsed on Saturday evening, just a week after a portion of a building on the first floor of a building in the same market had collapsed.
A small portion of a ceiling in a closed eatery in Delhi’s iconic Connaught Place market collapsed on Saturday evening, just a week after a portion of a building on the first floor of a building in the same market had collapsed.
Such incidents have raised serious concerns about the way the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) had been giving out licences for rooftop restaurants in the grand colonnades.
The incident on Saturday took place inside the closed Odeon sweet shop, which is next to the restaurant Unplugged Courtyard in L Block of Connaught Place, wherein a small portion of the ceiling fell to the ground. No injuries were reported, with restaurant and shop workers vacating the premises immediately after the incident.
The police tried to keep the matter under wraps, refuting the claims of a roof having collapsed. However, the people visiting Connaught Place and working in shops nearby raised an alarm.
Nitin Kapoor, public relations officer, Unplugged Courtyard, said, “Unplugged Courtyard has nothing to do with the collapsed ceiling and the incident took place next door at the Odeon sweet shop, which had been vacant for over a decade. In fact, the property was locked by the landlord.”
Kapoor further said that the general manager of Unplugged Courtyard was present at the site when the ceiling collapsed. He said, “When the incident took place, we got all our guests evacuated from the premises, along with the staff members, to avoid any possible mishap.”
Earlier, on February 2, a major disaster was averted after the first floor of a section of a building in C Block of Connaught Place collapsed, raising concerns about safety in this heritage zone.
The roof, followed by a side wall in the front of the affected floor, collapsed at 1.45 am, leaving a huge gaping hole in the facade.
It was found that the portion of the building that crumbled was above the well-known Jain Book Agency, and it was leased out to a restaurateur for a new pub.
The area, a major shopping and eating destination, teems with people and vendors during the day. There could have been casualties if the incident had happened when the market is open.
Following this, the civic body woke up and closed more than two dozen open-air restaurants running for years without permission. Now, the NDMC is sending show-cause notices to these restobars for ‘misuse of premises beyond sanction’ under sections 250 and 252 of the NDMC Act, 1994.
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