After homes, belongings also lost, say victims of building collapse

By the time we arrived, the entire site was dug up and the debris shifted to another site, due to which most of our belongings were either destroyed or lost , they say

LUCKNOW: The Alaya Apartment building collapse has claimed three lives and rendered many families homeless. While a few survivors are undergoing treatment in hospital, some others have been turning up at the site for three days, looking to retrieve their valuables, which according them, has been a Herculean task.

Residents retrieving their household items from the debris on Friday. (Sourced)

Residents sifting through the debris claimed that the administration is not giving them enough time to look for their belongings. “By the time we arrived, the entire site had been dug up and the debris shifted to another site, due to which most of our belongings were either destroyed or lost in the process,” said the survivors.

“The officials could have waited for the survivors to come back from the hospital. I had two flats (no. 402 and 403), one of which I got from my father as a wedding gift. But both of them have gone along with valuables including cash, jewellery etc,” lamented Afreen Fatima, who was trapped under the debris for more than 12 hours. She was at the site on Friday to collect her belongings, along with her husband Honey Haider and mother, after being discharged from hospital. “We have not been able to find anything except a few photographs and bags,” she added.

“We lost our newborn child a few weeks ago….and now everything. The authorities could have informed us before demolishing everything. The government is not even talking about the compensation…where will we go,” said Honey Haider who got married to Afreen a year ago.

Similarly, Rubi Fathema, who used to live on the fourth floor in flat no 401, lost all her belongings. “Even the clothes and slippers that I’m wearing belong to my friend whose house I’m currently staying in,” she said, adding: Last night I was optimistic about getting my things back. But now the way things have turned out, there are less chances that I’ll get anything.”

Akshay Gupta, a tenant of flat no 303 on the 3rd floor, said: “Everything was fine the previous night. They damaged it overnight without any concern for the belongings that we bought with our hard earned money.”

“Earlier, the team did not allow us to collect anything in the name of safety, so we thought of coming in the morning. But when we reached here, everything was destroyed with big machines after a body was taken out of the debris,” said Gupta, a resident of Delhi and an assistant professor at faculty of architecture and planning at AKTU. He was living here with his three colleagues.

“We want compensation for the belongings that they destroyed,” he added.

Another resident Aloka Awasthi has been coming to the site for three days to look for her valuables but has not been able to retrieve anything. “At this time when we should be with our family, we are here looking for our things that have been destroyed mercilessly,” she alleged.

Additional city magistrate Mohit Yadav, who is the nodal officer for retrieval of residents’ belongings, denying the allegations, saying: “We can’t wait for months as debris needs to be removed as soon as possible. It has to be dug up deep so that a dead body (if any) can be taken out. Besides, we can’t deploy so much manpower here for long.”

“We’re retrieving as many things as possible. The affected families can collect their belongings from here, from Ballu Adda and RR near Fun Mall where the debris is dumped. Passes have been issued to each of them, which they can show and collect belongings. Police are keeping vigil on the area as we got information that some locals are pilfering items. A shelter home has also been allotted to the homeless at Lakshman Mela ground,” he added.

‘Tremors and digging in basement led to collapse’

Aloka Awasthi, a resident of Alaya Apartment, shared a CCTV footage stating that some people had dug up the basement of the building, to which her mother had even objected, just a few hours before the collapse. “The building was shaken by the earthquake. I believe that it collapsed due to tremors and also because of the work which was in progress,” she said.