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Building collapses in W Delhi, none hurt
Police said that the insurance department of a bank, a gymnasium, a parlour, and a cosmetics shop operated from the building
A four-storey commercial building collapsed in west Delhi’s Tagore Garden late on Sunday night, police officers aware of the incident said. No one lived in the building, and since the incident occurred at around 11.15pm on Sunday, no one was in the building when it collapsed, said officers.
Police said that the insurance department of a bank, a gymnasium, a parlour, and a cosmetics shop operated from the building, located along the Najafgarh Road, close to the Tagore Garden Metro station. The building was constructed on a 200 square yard plot.
No one has been found trapped in the rubble, the fire department said.
Atul Garg, director, Delhi Fire Services, said it was too early to comment on what caused the collapse. “For now, it appears that the collapse occurred during the digging of a basement in the adjacent plot of land,” said Garg.
Batti Lal, station officer of Moti Nagar fire station, said, “Pillars had been set up on that (the adjacent) plot, and a basement was being constructed. The collapse could have occurred due to that.”
Akshat Kaushal, additional deputy commissioner of police (west), said an investigation into whose fault caused the collapse has been initiated after a first information report (FIR) was filed at the Rajouri Garden police station. “We have registered a case of negligence, among other sections under the Indian Penal Code,” said Kaushal.
Eyewitnesses told the police and firefighters that the building’s collapse brought nearby residents out of their homes
“Local residents could see only dust around them for several minutes. Once the dust settled and they were able to gauge what occurred, they informed the authorities,” said Lal. A police van parked near the building had a close shave, but a scooter parked in the campus couldn’t be saved, he said.
Additional DCP Kaushal said, “Upon receiving the PCR call, the police, the fire brigade, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority and the National Disaster Relief Fund teams reached the spot… NDRF used laser techniques to confirm that there was no one trapped inside.”
The police said they were probing if any illegality was involved in either the building that collapsed, or in the construction on the adjacent plot of land.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, in an official statement, said the building in question was constructed 8-10 years back after getting the building plan sanctioned from the body on June 13, 2013. “During the incident, neither any construction activity was going on nor any building material was found stacked at site. Further, no human casualty has been reported in the said incident. Consequent upon receiving the information about said incident, site was inspected by the field officials of building department and necessary relief work to remove the malba from the site has been undertaken by deputing the JCB,” the statement said.
