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As Lift legislation remains in draft stage, individuals continue to find themselves trapped inside faulty elevators
Residents of a high-rise apartment complex in Lucknow are suffering from inadequate maintenance of lifts and escalators, with two recent incidents of people being trapped for hours. The delay in enacting legislation is to blame for the problem.
The delay in enacting legislation pertaining to lifts and escalators has left the residents of various high-rises in the city suffering from the consequences of inadequate maintenance of these systems.
On Friday, a delivery executive found himself confined in an elevator for 15 minutes on the 14th floor of Sunbreeze one apartment, part of the BBD Green City Apartments in Lucknow’s Faizabad Road. This marked the second such incident within a span of 1.5 months in the same apartment complex, where a domestic worker was trapped for nearly 3 hours and had to be rescued in an almost unconscious state.
“I had come to deliver a product and took the elevator. However, it stopped on the second floor. I called for assistance, but I remained trapped for 20 minutes,” said Kamal Kumar, the victim, who was eventually rescued by residents.
“The mobile network signal was lost, but I attempted to contact the customer whose item I was delivering. I also tried to use the phone inside the elevator and pressed the emergency button, but none of these measures worked for me,” he added.
A resident of the building, Sunil Kumar Pandey, mentioned that he received information about the incident and rushed to the scene to aid in the rescue. “Our security personnel managed to free the man using the elevator’s keys,” he stated, highlighting that the elevator had malfunctioned due to a lack of proper maintenance.
“This is the second occurrence, and it is clear that the builders have installed low-quality elevators in all 11 towers of this residential complex,” noted another resident, Sandeep Pandey.
HT has consistently been addressing the issue of elevator malfunctions. The state government, however, drafted the Uttar Pradesh Lifts and Escalators Act, 2023, in response to the growing number of elevator accidents in the state. It is expected to be tabled before the state cabinet in the upcoming sessions.
