Four-storeyed building in Jafrabad, listed as dangerous by civic body, collapsed like a pack of cards, killing one, injuring 14.
In the wee hours on Saturday, residents of Vijay Mohalla in Jafrabad area of northeast Delhi woke up to a loud bang, after which whole area was enveloped with a cloud of dust. What followed were disturbing cries for help. A four-storeyed building, listed as dangerous by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, had collapsed killing a 55-year-old labour contractor and injuring 14 labourers who were employed by the owner to demolish the building.
The recently-constructed building fell like pack of cards, from the front side around 1.50am on Saturday when labourers were demolishing its fourth floor. All of them were trapped in the debris and were rescued in an over four-hour operation that continued till 6:30 in the morning. Two labourers, including the deceased Furkaan, were moved out from the debris. The injured were taken to GTB Hospital where most of them were discharged after treatment. The body of Furkaan was handed over to family members after conducting postmortem and other legal formalities.
Police has registered a case under section 304 (culpable homicide) and 288 (negligent conduct with respect to repairing of a building) of the IPC. However, owner of the building Mehraj-ud-din and his nephew Faisal, who apparently own properties worth several hundred crores in the area, have not joined the investigations.
Preliminary investigations reveal that the first PCR call regarding the cracks in the building was made around 6.38pm, after which several officials from police, East Delhi Municipal Corporation and local administration reached the spot, and decided to evacuate the building and adjacent structures. This building houses a garment manufacturing factory in the basement, a defunct motorcycle showroom on the first floor, while the other floors were unoccupied.
“The municipal corporation issued a notice of three days to the owner of the building and asked him to demolish it, or the Corporation had to demolish it on its own,” said a police official. Later, in the evening, as per agreement with the officials, Faisal employed his own labourers and asked them to demolish the building. “Around 20 workers started demolishing the top storey which could not bear the weight and came down tumbling,” said Muhammad Owais, a local.
EDMC mayor Ram Narayan Dubey, who visited the spot around 2.30pm on Saturday, assured of strict action if any official was found guilty of dereliction of duty in this case. “We have ordered an inquiry into the incident and things will be clear soon,” he said.
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