Sunita Srivastava, one of the two women to die in the incident, stayed on the first floor. Her husband Arun was rescued after a 16-hour operation (Express Photo) Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), fire department and district administration, working to retrieve the body of a woman who died at a residential society when a part of the tower collapsed, Saturday procured cribs used in railways to stabilise the basement so they can remove the debris safely.
On Thursday evening, a large portion of the sixth floor collapsed all the way to the first floor at Chintels Paradiso society’s tower D in Gurgaon’s sector 109.
Sunita Srivastava, one of the two women to die in the incident, stayed on the first floor. Her husband Arun was rescued after a 16-hour operation.
The cribs, typically used to support heavy objects in construction, can support a higher load of debris, said officials, and would speed up the rescue efforts. Officials said some chunks of rubble and plaster had started falling from the upper floors and a major challenge was not destabilising the building any further. The grill on the ground floor was cut as rescue teams made headway.
Ankita Choudhary, sub-divisional magistrate, Gurgaon North, said that after consultation with the engineering wing, it was decided on Friday night that the basement of the tower would be stabilised first.
“We were trying to procure railway cribs from a private construction company for reinforcement. Since their railway cribs are already in use, there has been a slight change in that aspect. We have now procured the cribs from the Railways division in Delhi. Their expert engineers have also been engaged. The cribs will make the base stronger. The main challenge is that the body is buried underneath all the debris. If we take even the slightest risk, the entire rubble can collapse and then there is a risk of destabilising the entire tower,” she said.
She added that the body had been located. “It has been anchored to avoid it falling into the rubble. We are taking all precautionary measures and hope to retrieve the body soon.”
On Saturday, the rescue teams continued to stabilise the basement using steel planks and poles. Several bags of earth were put at the ground level so there is no dangerous movement of debris and evacuation can be carried out safely, officials said.
Residents of the society said that due to the weight of the debris on the first floor, there had been a bulge and crack in the ceiling of the ground floor, with small chunks falling off.
Residents of Chintels Paradiso and other nearby societies in Gurgaon Sector 109 stage a protest demanding a structural audit of their buildings. The residents allege that the DTCP failed to address their previous complaints regarding cracking of walls, seepage etc (Express photo) Kuleesh Anand, Deputy Commandant, NDRF, said: “After stabilising the basement, the first floor, which has all the debris, shall be reinforced as much as possible. After that, filling will be done and then load will be shifted from above. Only when that is done will we be able to reach the body.”
“All the debris is hanging on the beam on the first floor. Some cracks have started emerging. During the rescue yesterday and today morning, small chunks of concrete from rubble have fallen. Our main concern is that something doesn’t fall from above. We cannot put the load on the ground floor suddenly, so the first-floor slab has to be stable and then load shifting can be done,” said Anand.
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