Killer building made from junk

The seven-storey structure that claimed 67 lives in east Delhi's Lalita Park area on Monday was built of second-hand construction material procured from a scrap dealer in Ghaziabad, Delhi Police sources revealed on Wednesday. Jatin Anand reports.

The seven-storey structure that claimed 67 lives in east Delhi's Lalita Park area on Monday was built of second-hand construction material procured from a scrap dealer in Ghaziabad, Delhi Police sources revealed on Wednesday.

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"Amrit Pal Sachdeva (67), the owner of the building, told us he had bought iron rods, bricks and other construction material from a local scrap dealer in Ghaziabad," said an officer from the investigation team.

Sources said Sachdeva had used material scavenged from a site in Ghaziabad where two buildings had collapsed in 2007.

MCD officials discovered staggering structural discrepancies in the collapsed Lalita Park structure that was home to an estimated 350 people.

"The builder seems to have flouted almost every rule. Instead of being placed horizontally, the bricks of the building's walls had been placed vertically," said a senior MCD official.

"There were no iron beams that are mandatory to ensure the structural safety of the building. Even the cement used seems to have been spurious."