The local civic body may have been quick to act after Saturday’s building collapse that killed 10 people in North Delhi, but if previous cases are any indication the victims’ families may have to wait years for justice.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation ordered an inquiry and suspended two engineers after an Inderlok building fell on Saturday morning.
But, over two years ago when four children were killed near a construction site in South Delhi no inquiry was initiated. The children were playing carrom when a wall of an under construction building fell on them.
The February 25, 2012, collapse in Chhattarpur left the families grieving. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation had announced an inquiry into the incident, but as of Monday no such investigation had been launched, said officials. “I can’t recall the details of the incident. We are looking for the records,” said SDMC commissioner Manish Gupta.
The leader of the opposition, Farhad Suri, had raised the issued at a meeting of the Standing Committee last week. The committee’s chairperson, Satish Upadhyay, had asked Mr. Gupta to clarify whether an inquiry had been launched.
Mr. Upadhyay, for his part, said the matter pertained to the jurisdiction of the erstwhile unified corporation. “I have asked for the action-taken report. Why is this issue being raked up now,” asked the chairperson, implying politically motivated intentions on the opposition’s part.
But, almost a week later when The Hindu asked the commissioner about it he maintained he did not have any information about the case.
