Just a day following the Bara Hindu Rao building collapse incident, a four-storeyed building collapsed in the Seelampur area of Northeast Delhi. The building was located in a residential area in Gali No. 5 of the densely populated Janata Colony. Surrounding buildings also sustained damages due to the collapse.
On July 12, at 07:AM, the Delhi Fire Department received a call about the building collapse, seven fire tenders rushed to the site to rescue those trapped. Teams from National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) and civil defense were also deployed. The additional DCP of the North-east district, Sandeep Lamba, stated to reporters that he received a call at 7:30 AM and immediately mobilised his forces. Out of the rescued people, six have been confirmed as dead , eight were identified and found injured including an infant. They were immediately taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra (JPC) Hospital, except the infant, who was referred to GTB Hospital.
Neighbours also assisted the forces in the rescue operations. A local resident Anees Ansari while speaking to the reporters commented on the suddenness of the collapse, “Everyone was sleeping, when at around 7 am, the building collapsed on one side of my house and its debris crashed into my house. Suddenly, there was a blackout. 4-5 people are still trapped in the debris of the collapsed building.”
While investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of the sudden collapse, residents of Janata Colony have long expressed concerns about the poor condition of the buildings and the inferior construction materials used to them, as well as to the local landlords and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). A neighbour of the victims while talking about the collapse to Outlook India said, “All of our houses are in terrible condition and I would say we are lucky that the collapse didn’t take our houses down with it.” Rescue operations are still underway. Experts suggest multiple reasons including ageing infrastructure, unauthorised construction, and the heavy monsoon rains that often weaken foundations as recurring contributors to such disasters in Delhi.
This article is written by our intern Varisha Sharma.
