A long night ahead for residents after Metro accident

The dust has settled in Zamrudpur where a portion of the Metro rail’s elevated line collapsed on Sunday morning. But for residents of the area, it’s a long night ahead.

The dust has settled in Zamrudpur where a portion of the Metro rail’s elevated line collapsed on Sunday morning. But for residents of the area, it’s a long night ahead.

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With a 45-metre-long girder weighing 600 tonnes hanging over their heads, residents of a block in Zamrudpur fear their houses might be the next casualty. Sunday morning’s structural collapse forced them to leave their houses and run for cover.

Ramesh Sharma, a wholesale fruit vendor, has moved into his relative’s house in Uttam Nagar, as he fears the huge iron girder may fall on his house.

“The whole area has been evacuated. I fear the girder may fall on our house anytime. We did not even have time to move out our belongings. Delhi Metro officials have assured us that all items would be safely removed but we can never be too sure,” he said.

Power supply to a few areas was also cut during the rescue operations. “As heavy cranes are being used in the rescue operations, we had asked for the electricity supply to be cut,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

As many as 20 houses and shops in the area have been evacuated. “I had heard on the radio about this. We feared our shop has been destroyed in the incident. Thank God nothing happened. I do not know when we would be able to open our shops again. There is total chaos here,” said Sandeep Kumar, who works in a shop.

The residents are now waiting for the whole operation to be over and are anxious to go back to their houses.

“I hope it gets over soon. Tomorrow, I will not be able to go to office and my children will have to miss school. We just locked our house and came out,” said Mukund Sharma, a businessman.