Probe into Noida wall collapse incident delayed

The Noida authority chief executive officer Ritu Maheshwari on September 21, 2022, formed a committee headed by additional chief executive officer Manvendra Singh and comprising chief architect and town planner and other officials to ”fix responsibility” for the negligence that resulted in the death of four persons

After making no progress in the past two months, the Noida authority committee probing the wall collapse incident at Jalvayu Vihar in Sector 21 on September 20, which killed four daily wagers, has asked the deputy general manager in charge of that area to be present for questioning.

The wall collapse incident at Jalvayu Vihar in Noida’s Sector 21 on September 20, killed four daily wagers. (Sunil Ghosh/ HT)

The probe was to be completed within 15 days but even after two months, the probe has hardly progress, said authority sources.

On September 20, 2022 the portion of the Jalvayu Vihar apartment complex wall has collapsed, killing four workers and injuring seven others who were repairing the drain adjacent to the wall.

The Noida authority chief executive officer Ritu Maheshwari on September 21, 2022, formed a committee headed by additional chief executive officer Manvendra Singh and comprising chief architect and town planner and other officials to ”fix responsibility” for the negligence that resulted in the death of four persons. However, the committee is yet to question the officials who awarded the tender for the drains work or the supervisors who monitored the work.

“We have called the deputy general manager for questioning and asked him to submit a written statement. We will soon conclude the probe and fix responsibility. The probe got delayed as a committee member had fallen ill,” said ACEO Singh .

The dead workers’ families alleged that the authority hired a contractor who forced the workers to continue to dig despite them noticing that the wall had started to tilt. The police have filed FIR against the contractor responsible carrying out the work.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY also ordered a separate probe into this matter but even that probe has reached nowhere.

“We have asked the additional district magistrate to carry out the probe in this matter. ADM is likely to complete the probe at the earliest,” said Suhas.