Five persons, including a 57-year-old man and four members of another family, were injured when a four-storey building collapsed in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar in the early hours of Sunday.
Debris falls on house
Residents claimed that several complaints had been made against the building owners for not maintaining the old and dilapidated structure, but no action had been taken.
The building stood on a disputed plot near V3S Mall. However, when it collapsed, the debris fell on adjacent buildings. The debris also fell on top of a two-storey house nearby, causing its roof to collapse and fall on one Bakar Singh, who was sleeping inside. He sustained critical injuries in the incident.
The building that collapsed is owned by one Mohan Chand Sharma, who lived there with his family. They all suffered minor injuries.
According to the Delhi Fire Service, they received a call around 1.30 a.m. The police and Fire Department teams rescued those who were trapped.
Gaurav Saini, whose shop was also damaged after the collapse, said the matter had been flagged to the municipal authorities but they chose to ignore it.
Shop damaged
“My shop, which is adjacent to the building, was also damaged in the mishap. The civic body had been informed about the condition of the building in advance, but no action was taken,” Mr. Saini claimed.
Scaffolding collapses
In a similar incident, a scaffolding for construction at a government school in Tughlakabad collapsed on Saturday after heavy rain, injuring one person and damaging four cars that were parked below it.
A police officer said the frame had been erected the same day but construction had to be temporarily discontinued due to the rain.
“The cars were parked under the building and a man who was passing by also sustained minor injuries,” the police officer added.
