Four North MCD officials get clean chit in Sabzi Mandi building collapse probe

The report on the inquiry into the Malkaganj building collapse near Sabzi Mandi area has provided a clean chit to the four supervising officials, including the deputy commissioner and the three engineers. The collapse on September 13 led to the death of two children, aged 7 and 12 years, and caused injuries to a 72-year-old shop owner.

The report on the inquiry into the Malkaganj building collapse near Sabzi Mandi area has provided a clean chit to the four supervising officials, including the deputy commissioner and the three engineers.

A building collapsed at Sabzi Mandi area on September 13. The North MCD had ordered a probe into the incident. The probe report has given a clean chit to four officials. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

The collapse on September 13 led to the death of two children, aged 7 and 12 years, and caused injuries to a 72-year-old shop owner.

According to the report, which was submitted to the municipal commissioner on Tuesday, the inquiry found that the collapsed building was not in a dangerous state and no complaint was filed about it to the corporation’s control room.

Locals informed the inquiry committee that some kind of demolition work was being undertaken at the site on the night of September 12, 2021.

Jogi Ram Jain, standing committee chairman of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said he has not studied the report as yet. “The clean chit has been given to the officials concerned but I will go through the report and we will explore the possibility of re-examining it,” Jain said.

North Delhi mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said he had visited the collapse site and preliminary findings show that it was a fault of the owner’s that led to the collapse.

Meanwhile, a resurvey of the area in the wake of the collapse has identified at least 18 high-risk structures, which are 50 to 60 years old, in Malkaganj municipal ward. Mayor Singh said all dangerous buildings identified in the resurvey will be evacuated to protect human lives.

Building collapses during the monsoon season have become an annual phenomenon in Delhi. In the past too, municipal corporations have failed to fix accountability in such cases.

In the capital’s biggest such case, a five-storeyed building collapsed in east Delhi’s Lalita Park area in November 2010, killing at least 67 people and injuring 77 others. Almost eight years after that tragedy, a paltry fine of ₹21,000 was imposed on the junior engineer concerned.

The issue of Sabzi Mandi collapse and dangerous buildings was also raised in the north corporation house meeting on Wednesday. Vikas Goya, leader of the opposition, demanded that a dedicated engineering wing for identifying dangerous buildings be set up and compensation be provided by the civic body to parents of the deceased children.

KS Mehra, former municipal commissioner of erstwhile unified MCD, said in the Walled City, areas around Malkaganj, and in special areas, a door-to-door exercise is needed to scientifically examine the structural strength of buildings. “We had initiated a programme in this direction. The cost of examining the building strength can be levied from owners. People may resist it but it should be done since so many lives are involved,” he said.

Mehra added that as a long -term solution, corporations should focus on ensuring the compliance of completion certificates. “Compliance is still low and this is the only point of intervention which can lead to long-term safety of buildings,” he said.

As of now, the dangerous building survey comprises visual surveys by the junior engineer of the area and if the engineer notices structures that are bent or show signs of cracks, then (s)he inspects the structure from the inside. “A notice to get the building repaired is issued to the owner if the building can be retrofitted,” a municipal official said, asking not to be named.