HYDERABAD: Scores of people, mostly migrants, housed in a five-storey illegal building at Siddiq Nagar in Gachibowli ran for their lives on Tuesday night as the building precariously tilted to one side. The residents were alerted by the sounds of tiles breaking, accompanied by screams from the neighbours. A stampede-like situation arose as everyone tried to move out of the building simultaneously, and some sustained injuries in the process.

The demolition of the building, located hardly 500 metres from the Gachibowli-Miyapur highway, started at around 11:30 am on Wednesday by GHMC officials with the support of Hydraa. However, within 30 minutes, the oil pipe of the machine broke, and only at around 3.30 pm could the demolition work resume and it was completed by 9 pm.
Locals blamed officials as well as owners in the area for the incident. "How can someone construct a five-storey building in 50 square yards?" questioned P Rama, a tenant in a building opposite to the tilted one. She said till a few years ago, there were not many multi-storey buildings in the area. "Ever since PGs and working men and women hostels have sprung up in the area, everyone became greedy. It is only because of greed that four or five-storey buildings are being constructed on small plots," she added.
Entire area barricaded, people in buildings nearby evacuated
We just sat down for dinner when we started to hear our neighbours shouting, asking us to leave the building immediately. I just ran out," said Nozmul Hussain, who works with Urban Company providing cleaning services.
All the occupants vacated the building at around 8 pm on Tuesday and have been sitting on the road or taking shelter in under-construction buildings nearby, hoping they will be allowed to retrieve at least important documents, cash, and gold.
Another resident of the area, Viswa, said they got scared when they saw the building tilting towards their side. "We just ran out. After some time, officials made us all vacate our houses as we might get injured if the building fell or even during the demolition," he added.
Even before the demolition work started, police barricaded the area from all sides and evacuated residents of nearby buildings to prevent any untoward incident. People gathered in large numbers near the barricades. The demolition work was completed by 9 pm.
Some in the locality put the blame on the owner of the adjacent plot, the area where Hydraa machinery was parked and demolition work was carried out, saying he dug too deep to lay the foundation for his building, resulting in damage to the adjacent one.