Landlord of collapsed Gurugram building absconding

Residents living near the collapsed structure in Haryana’s Ullahawas village said they had raised concerns of substandard quality of construction materials with the owner Daya Ram but he allegedly did not pay heed to their concerns.

People waiting near the residence of Daya Ram, owner of a building that collapsed early Thursday morning, located 50 metres from the collapse site, said they are unaware about Ram’s whereabouts.

Rescue operations being carried out at the site in Ullahawas village in Haryana where a four-storey building collapsed on Thursday, January 24, 2019. Seven people were killed in the incident. (Yogendra Kumar/ HT Photo)

At his brother’s house, located in the adjoining lane, his sister-in-law said she was not aware of his whereabouts.

Ram has been allegedly been on the run since the incident. Late Thursday evening, police said they were yet to register a case against him. “Daya Ram is absconding. There is nobody at his residence. Currently, our focus is on the rescue work. We are carrying out an investigation to arrest him,” said Dinesh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Sohna.

At his residence, two old women who declined to identify themselves said they were visitors from another place and didn’t know about Ram. At his younger brother’s house, his sister-in-law said that her husband was out of town and she was unaware of Ram’s whereabouts.

“My husband Jaibir has still not returned from a wedding in Rajasthan. I have no clue about Ram’s location,” said the woman, who refused to be identified.

Ram also owns a blue three-storey building situated right behind the collapse site and residents of this building fear that their building could meet a similar fate. They said that the structure of their building is also extremely weak, a matter they have raised with their landlord on numerous occasions, but to no avail, causing them to consider moving to a new location.

Giren Singh, from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, who works as a security guard at a private firm nearby, had moved to the three-storey structure four months ago. He said he shares a room with another person.

According to Giren, there are more than 20 rooms in the building in which over 40 people stay. He said that there were some families as well and most of them are migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

“On several occasions, the tenants have raised the issue of the weak structure of our building and it needs to be renovated. Daya Ram (the owner) assured us that once he completes the construction of the other building, which collapsed today, he would initiate repairs to this one,” said Giren.

Giren said that he is acquainted with Joginder Singh, the guard who stayed in the building that collapsed but was out for duty at the time. Joginder’s 19-year old son was among the six who died in the incident. “I do not want to meet a similar fate and have started inquiring from my acquaintances of available accommodations so I can relocate,” said Giren.

Residents living near the collapsed structure said they had raised concerns of substandard quality of construction materials with Ram but he allegedly did not pay heed to their concerns.

“Ram used substandard quality material for constructing the building and I had told him many times that it was not safe, but he did not listen. The base of the structure was only two-three feet deep, whereas it should be about eight-nine feet deep. The iron rods used were also fewer in quantity than required,” said Veer Singh, a local.