Trapped for 1 hr in Civic Centre lift

Five people were stuck in one of the elevators of the Rs 600-crore Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre for 60 minutes on Tuesday.

Five people were stuck in one of the elevators of the Rs 600-crore Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre for 60 minutes on Tuesday.

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The incident happened around 8.30 am when some staff members entered an elevator in Block A of the MCD headquarters and pressed the button to go up. But the elevator went down to the basement level 3 and got stuck there.

According to Rajesh Nigam, one of the five people stuck in the elevator, there were no response when they called the intercom numbers. After 10-15 minutes, someone picked up their call.

“For a long time, people tried to free us but to no avail. We were suffocating inside for 20 minutes when finally the door opened by a few inches, letting in some air. After another 40 minutes, the workers opened the door a little bit and pulled us out,” said Nigam who works in the accounts section.

The incident poses serious questions about the MCD preparedness to deal with such incidents as there was no one to monitor the elevators and no rescue teams stationed.

“Thankfully no one was injured. But the corporation has to learn from it and increase its preparedness,” said Jagdish Mamgain, chairman, Works Committee.