MCD suspends 2 engineers after Alipur wall collapse, orders inquiry

Five people were killed and nine others were injured after a portion of an under construction godown collapsed and fell on the workers at the site at Bakoli village on Friday.

New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has suspended two engineers pending an inquiry after a wall collapsed in Outer Delhi’s Alipur, claiming five lives on Friday, said an MCD statement issued on Saturday.

Families of one of the victims wailing at hospital.

Five people were killed and nine others were injured after a portion of an under-construction godown collapsed and fell on them at Bakoli village near Alipur on Friday afternoon, police said. All the dead and injured persons were daily wagers who were working at the construction site. Two of them are critically injured.

The civic body has initiated an inquiry into the matter to investigate the lapses on the part of the officials in the area.

“Taking serious cognizance of unfortunate incident of wall collapse at Bakoli village, concerned junior engineer and assistant engineer were placed under suspension, pending inquiry into the incident, as per the orders of Commissioner MCD Gyanesh Bharti,” said the MCD statement.

In the preliminary incident report about the wall collapse, the municipal corporation has claimed the wall was being constructed on a private agricultural land in Bakoli village which is a rural village. “Sub divisional magistrate (SDM) had also issued a restraint order against the construction. MCD had carried out demolition action at the construction site on April 22, 2022 and wrote letter after demolition to concerned police station to keep a watch and not let construction happen again. On July 13, during field visit by the areas junior engineer, construction activities were found and after booking the property he had issued notice to the owner in this regard,” the preliminary report said.

The civic body has, so far, been unable to provide answers on the continued illegal construction at the site.

The contractor Sikandar Singh and site supervisor Satish Kumar were arrested after a case was registered under Indian Penal Code’s sections 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) in connection with the mishap. Additional deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Raja Banthia said on Saturday that raids are being conducted to arrest the third suspect identified as owner of the land Shakti Singh, who is on the run. Police on Saturday maintained that they had informed the Municipal Corporation twice - on July 7 and July 11 - about the illegal construction work. “The MCD had also carried out demolition action on April 22 and thereafter wrote a letter to the concerned police station to keep a watch and not allow the construction to resume. On July 13, during a field visit by an engineer, construction activities were found ongoing and after booking the property, he had issued a notice to the owner in this regard,” the MCD said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are blaming each other for “negligence” that led to the wall collapse. AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak said that the SDM of the area had informed the BJP-led MCD about the illegal construction and that “any untoward incident can take place at any time but no action was taken.”

AAP has demanded a proper investigation and punishment to the culprits under sections 302 and 307 of the IPC. AAP MLA from Narela Sharad Chauhan also alleged that he had informed top Narela zone officials about the illegal construction but no action was taken. Pathak claimed that Chauhan had also submitted a letter to the lieutenant governor around 15-20 days ago regarding unauthorised constructions in Narela.

MCD has not responded to the allegations levelled by the party.

However, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor blamed AAP leaders for being responsible for the mishap. “Delhi Police has said it is on lookout for Shakti Singh as third main suspect responsible for the mishap. According to locals, Shakti Singh is an AAP leader and the entire area is full of his posters and hoardings in support of AAP. AAP should clarify what is the connection of Shakti Singh with the party is,” he said.