Satya Niketan building collapse: Operator's other PGs also rife with lapses, HT probe finds

HT found narrow staircases, obstructed exits and poor ventilation at two facilities still housing students, while operators began removing signs after tragedy.

Two buildings run by the same company that managed an ill-fated structure in Satya Niketan, which collapsed and killed seven people earlier this week, showed multiple fire and building code violations similar to those pointed out by magisterial inquiries in previous tragedies, HT has found.

The findings echo lapses cited in magisterial inquiries into previous Delhi fires and building collapses, including tragedies in Hauz Rani and Vivek Vihar. (File Photo/ANI)

The violations included single entry and exit points, a lack of fire extinguishers, narrow staircases, obstructed corridors, encroached entrances and locked terrace gates.

Police say that Hostel Daze, the company that ran the five-storey building housing Delhi University students that crumpled on Sunday afternoon, managed seven establishments in the area. HT visited five of these facilities on Wednesday and found violations in at least two of them.

Both properties still housed student tenants. Students and staffers also said that the owners had locked some properties, taken down Hostel Daze boards, or asked tenants to vacate.

Hostel Daze operator, Sudhanshu Lovneesh, was arrested on Wednesday and his partner Shubham Tyagi is on the run.

“The warden has left, Sudhanshu has been arrested, and no one is taking our calls. Two of us pay ₹34,000 for this tiny room with no window. The norm here has been to lock the building from outside every night. I am scared,” said a third-year DU student staying at one of the properties.

Moti Bagh PG had single entry, 40-student capacity

The first Hostel Daze facility HT visited was in Moti Bagh II, opposite the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus metro station. It was a five-storey building with the ground floor rented to food shops – the same as the structure that collapsed. The other four floors had five rooms each and a total occupancy of 40. “Most of the children ran away after the incident. Even the warden has left. I don’t know what will happen with this building… This is also an old building,” said a staffer on the condition of anonymity.

Large black and grey sheets were hung on the front of the building to hide the Hostel Daze sign, but its logo — “Hostel Daze” written across an outline of a house, over a yellow backdrop — was visible. There was only a single entry/exit point. On two other sides of the building, there were iron gates, dangling wires and no space. There were 6-10 students living there.

Second PG had narrow staircase, sealed back exit

The second Hostel Daze facility that HT visited was close to south Moti Bagh. It was a five-storey building with the ground floor as entrance, and the other four floors with four rooms each. The building had an occupancy of at least 32 students and the rent per room was ₹34,000, split between two people. The rooms were small with two beds, a single almirah, a table and an attached washroom but no windows. The staircase was extremely narrow and the only mode of access to each floor. The back exit was completely sealed. There were 12 students living there.

Two students said that a huge yellow board was removed from the building on Sunday night – hours after the tragedy. A second-year DU student said, “Our warden ran off. Another warden told us that we all should leave and start looking for other places.”

In the buildings HT entered, Hostel Daze logos and notices were visible on the corridors. Wardens and multiple residents also confirmed that the firm was in charge of the facility.

Similar lapses have preceded deadly Delhi tragedies

The establishments had the same violations that led to tragedies not just in Satya Niketan on Sunday but also on June 3, when a fire at a bed-and-breakfast in Hauz Rani killed at least 23 people. Four days earlier, the collapse of an illegal building in adjacent Saidulajab killed six. In May, a fire tore through a residential building in Vivek Vihar, killing nine. On March 18, a blaze in a Palam Vihar building killed nine.

The magisterial inquiry report into the deadly Hauz Rani fire had stated, “Many casualties have occurred due to suffocation and lack of ventilation provisions.” Some of the six guest rooms, the report said, lacked proper ventilation which the report said showed “negligence while conducting inspection of the premises”.

In the Saidulajab magisterial inquiry report, the collapse was attributed to “inadequate regulatory enforcement,” among other reasons, and it rapped the MCD as the “most significant deficiencies were found in the monitoring and enforcement mechanism of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi”.

Vivek Vihar probe cited multiple safety deficiencies

The Vivek Vihar magisterial inquiry report said that although “the probable origin of the fire appears to be an electrical short circuit”, the tragedy was “considerably aggravated by multiple contributory factors including deficiencies in fire safety measures, restricted means of escape, the locked terrace access, inadequate ventilation, deviations from prescribed building safety norms, congested approach lanes affecting emergency access, and the rapid spread of smoke and flames within the building.”

As per the National Building Code, 2016, and fire safety rules, hostels are treated as residential buildings for several building-safety requirements. For hostels, the minimum corridor/passage width is 1.25 metres, while staircases serving hostels must also be at least 1.25m wide. At the two “Hostel Daze” properties, the corridor was roughly a metre wide.

According to the code, exit doorways must have a minimum clear width of one metre and a height of two metres. Exit doors must open outwards and should not obstruct the required exit or staircase width. In at least one of the PGs, the exit was obstructed by a juice stall and a row of two-wheelers. The norms also require adequate lighting, ventilation and unobstructed exit routes – none of which were observed at either property.

Former DDA chief calls for independent regulator

“Such violations are rampant across Delhi, but these are enforcement issues rather than a planning problem. If MCD has not been able to control such illegal construction, one needs an independent building regulatory authority, on the lines of RERA, to ensure enforcement,” said former DDA commissioner AK Jain.

The third building HT visited was located inside a four-storey house. But the owner blocked the entry, though he confirmed that Hostel Daze ran the facility. “We have given the two floors to Hostel Daze for many years. But they are not reachable,” he said.

Another operator-linked property denies association

The fourth building was near the footover bridge at MG Road and located opposite a popular dairy store. The building owner again confirmed the Hostel Daze connection, but refused entry. “We are not associated with Hostel Daze anymore. This is a private property now,” he said.

The building was next to a house that was recently demolished. The owner of an eatery on the ground floor of the building said, “Hostel Daze had a huge board in front of my shop. They removed it on Monday. The students were asked by the owner to leave.” The fifth building was located near Ambedkar Path in South Moti Bagh. It had four storeys but the entrance was through a small gate locked from the inside. “The owners have asked us not to talk to the media and not post anything online,” said a student, requesting anonymity.

The warden at this facility said she was disturbed and scared. “I have not got my salary. My friend, who’s also a warden for Hostel Daze, ran without telling me,” she added.