Delhi building collapse: Illegal extension put pressure on weak building

The family of four, who bought the first floor of building in 1996, moved out of the building merely one and a half month ago fearing the mishap. The family had rented a flat in the same locality.

According to Vinod Garg(43), the owner, his house had tilted and was left on the support of a Sheeshum tree after the owner of the upper three floors had done construction and put them on rent.

"We purchased the first floor in 1996 and there was only a shop on the ground floor at that time since then I have been living here with my family but around 5/6 years the owner sold the terrace of the building to Dharmendra Gujjar who constructed two more floors and gave the house on rent," said Gupta.

He further said that around two years ago, Gujjar built another floor and despite our protest he did not listen.

"The ground and first floor were old and he just kept on building the floors. Since the construction of the fourth floor, the building had tilted and was supported by a Sheeshum tree which was about 50 years old. He had rented the second floor to a family while two families lived on the third floor. Later another family moved on the fourth floor," said Gupta.

He had warned the tenants of the house about the situation and the tenants were ready to move out but the Gujjar somehow managed to convince them always.

"Gujjar didn't let the tenants move out as he was getting around 20k from them. We (me and the ground floor shop owner) were ready to move out to reconstruct the entire house. But Gujjar always told us that nothing will have I have got it cleared from the engineers. This had been happening from quite sometimes now so I had to move out of my own house with my wife and two kids keeping the safety of his family in mind," said Gupta.

Initially Gupta lived with his elder brother but now has moved to another house and pays a rent of Rs 10,000.

"I feel lucky that my entire family is safe but this mishap could be prevented if the administration and Gujjar would have paid attention," said Gupta.

TWO ENGINEERS SUSPENDED

THREE BOOKED: A day after seven people were killed in the collapse of a five-story “weak” building, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation Thursday discontinued the contract of an engineer, suspended two others and directed officials to carry out a fresh survey to identify dangerous properties. As the three men booked in connection with the building collapse remained at large, policemen in plain clothes were deployed near their houses. Police suspect that the accused own some other buildings in the national capital.  

WARNING ISSUED: Garg family living on the first floor had moved out of the building two months ago. They have now rented a flat in the locality and pay Rs 10,000 a month as their rent. They had also warned the tenants of the other houses to move out considering the building had tilted and was taking support of a 50-year-old tree. The tenants did fear for life but were convinced by owner Dharmendra Gujjar to continue staying in the house, and building was strong enough. Rinky’s family living on the fourth floor lost two of their sons in the tragic incident. Rinky’s two brothers who had skipped school were the unfortunate ones to pay the price at the cost of someone’s greedy attitude to earn more money.