Five dead, 9 injured as wall caves in at construction site in Delhi

All the fourteen were daily wagers who were working at the construction site, the police said.

New Delhi: At least five people were killed and nine others were injured, two of them critically, after the portion of an under construction godown collapsed and fell on them at Bakoli village in Alipur in outer Delhi on Friday afternoon, police said. All the dead and injured persons were daily wagers who were working at the construction site, the police said.

Rescue operation underway to save people trapped under debris following the collapse of a wall in an under-construction godown, at Alipur area in New Delhi, Friday, July 15, 2022. 

The contractor and site supervisor 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, the police said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed their anguish and shock at the incident.

“Anguished by the mishap in Alipur, Delhi. My thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that those who are injured recover at the earliest: PM @narendramodi,” the PMO tweeted.

Delhi chief minister said he was monitoring the relief work. “A very tragic incident happened in Alipur. The district administration is involved in relief and rescue work. I am monitoring the relief work. I pray for the souls of the deceased,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Around 150 daily wagers were working at the construction site when around 12.30 pm on Friday, a 100-feet-long and 15-feet-high wall collapsed and fell on nearly 20 labourers who were digging a foundation adjacent to it. Some of them were rescued immediately by other labourers and they escaped unhurt, but 14 others suffered injuries, the police said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Police said the construction of the godown was illegal as it was being built on agricultural land in Bakoli village, which is a rural area. The sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) had issued a restraint order against the construction, read a statement issued by the MCD after the mishap.

“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.

Police said their preliminary enquiry has revealed that the godown was being constructed by one Shakti Singh of Bakoli village who is a “cousin of Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) Narela MLA Sharad Chauhan.

“We have learnt that 40-year-old Shakti Singh gave the contract of the godown’s construction to a person named Sikandar. Although it has come to our notice that Sikandar Singh is also the owner of the land, we have to authenticate it by seeing the original registry papers. Sikandar and the site supervisor Satish have been arrested but Singh is absconding,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (outer-north) Raja Banthia.

When contacted, Narela MLA Sharad Chauhan confirmed that Shakti Singh is his cousin, but he added, “Anyone who is responsible and violated the law leading to the incident should be given strictest punishment. Illegal construction in the area is an old issue and I have been raising my voice against it for a long time.”

Police said the foundation of the godown was laid in December last year and the MCD was notified about the illegal construction for the first time in that month itself. Thereafter the construction stopped for sometime but it started again later. On July 7 and 11, the MCD was informed about the resumption of the illegal construction, they said.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg said the fire control room received a call at 12.42pm that a house had collapsed at Bakoli village near Chauhan Dharamkanta in Alipur. Four fire tenders and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the mishap spot. After reaching the spot, the fire officials learnt that a wall of an under-construction godown spread in about 5,000 square yard area had collapsed, said Garg.

Apart from the local police, residents and fire department officials, teams of National Disaster Response Force and Delhi Civil Defence volunteers also joined the rescue-cum-search operation that lasted for nearly four hours. Two earthmovers and four hydras were also used in the operation. The 14 rescued and injured persons were rushed to Satyawadi Raja Harish Chandra hospital, where five of them were declared brought dead.

“Of the nine injured labourers, two were referred to Lok Nayak hospital as their condition was critical,” said a senior police officer.

Mukim Khan, a truck driver who was present near the mishap spot, said he was at a nearby workshop when he heard a loud sound and rushed out with his employer and three workers. “I thought the sound was either of a bomb blast or explosion in electric tank. Soon, I heard some women screaming for help. We rushed to that direction and found that a long wall had collapsed and many people were trapped. All five of us joined the labourers and rescued four injured persons by removing the bricks, iron rods and soil using our hands,” said Khan.

The deceased were identified as Rishipal,40, Pramod Kumar,29, Govind Prasad alias Bablu,30 and two more men named Pramod but aged 45 and 35. Those injured were Kishan, Ram Kishor, Puran, Sanjay, Rambir, Mahavir Das, Guddu and Nem Chand, all between the age of 23 and 47.

Most of the victims were from Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. All of them were daily-wage workers who earned between ₹800 and ₹1,000, depending on their skills, the workers who survived said at the hospital.

Meena Devi, wife of dead mason Pramod Kumar, said that they along with their one-year-old daughter, Jyoti, had come to Delhi from their hometown in Jharkhand’s Palamu district to earn money that they needed for their survival and for the wedding of her sister planned later this year. The couple had started working at the site from Monday and were paid ₹2,000 as advance by the contractor for lodging and fooding. She was also working at the site but on the other side of another constructed wall when the mishap claimed her husband’s life.

“Through a hole in the wall, I could see the other wall falling down slowly on the side where my husband and other labourers were working. By the time I raised an alarm and rushed there, my husband and some other men were already trapped under the debris. Some were rescued but my husband was killed along with four others. I would have never come to Delhi had I known that the city will claim everything from me,” said Devi, sitting on a pavement and breastfeeding her daughter.

Devi said she did not have money to take her husband’s body back to their hometown. “A government official promised me ₹15,000 but now he is not seen anywhere,” she added.

Like Kumar, 35-year-old Rishipal had also come to Delhi from Badaun along with his mother and a sister for livelihood a month ago. He also died earning ₹800 that he got as his daily wage.

His mother, Dulari, said that he was the only earning member of the family and left behind his four daughters, wife, parents and three sisters. “Who will take care of us now,” she said.

One of the injured men, Nemchand, said, “We were digging the foundation when the wall collapsed and I was trapped inside the debris. Someone pulled me out when I fainted. I received injuries on the backside of my head, back and legs.”