Scared residents take charge of demolition

In the wake of the Chandni Mahal building collapse incident, scared residents of the Walled City have started demolishing dangerous portions of their buildings on their own.

In the wake of the Chandni Mahal building collapse incident, scared residents of the Walled City have started demolishing dangerous portions of their buildings on their own.

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At around 1pm on Friday, many residents were seen standing on the roofs of their buildings, which were vacated by the MCD on Thursday, removing the dilapidated portions.

"If we continue to wait for the MCD to demolish such buildings, another building collapse might take place till then. After waiting for a day, the scared residents have started demolishing dangerous parts of their building themselves," said Taufiq Ahmad, a resident of Chandni Mahal.

However, MCD claimed that they could barely take any action on Friday as they did not have adequate police force to accompany them for security.

On Friday, MCD conducted a survey to identify dangerous buildings in and around plot No. 833, where a building collapse killed seven people, including a six-year-old boy and injured 23. Three premises adjoining the plot were identified as vulnerable and will be demolished.

"Those who have carried out illegal construction are scared that action will be taken against them. Therefore, they have started bringing down small parts of their buildings on their own," said Deep Mathur, director, press and information, MCD.

The MCD, however, has failed to submit a final report on the Chandni Mahal collapse as promised on Friday. On Tuesday, the day of the collapse, the commissioner had said that a preliminary report will be submitted the next day while a full report will be submitted on Friday. "The report will take some more time to be completed," added Mathur.