Rescue teams rush to Gali Sitara after three-storey structure caves in; MCD suspends assistant engineer and junior engineer over alleged negligence.
New Delhi: Two people were killed and several others were feared trapped after a three-storey under-construction building collapsed in Old Delhi’s Chawri Bazaar area on Thursday morning, officials said.
The incident was reported around 9.50 am from Gali Sitara, near the Chawri Bazaar Metro station. At least six fire units, including water tenders and rescue vehicles, were rushed to the site, while senior officials supervised the rescue operation.
Further details, including the exact number of people trapped under the debris and the circumstances leading to the collapse, were awaited.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) suspended two officials – an assistant engineer and a junior engineer – with immediate effect.
Separate suspension orders were issued by the Deputy Commissioner of the MCD’s Old Delhi Zone. The orders cited a prima facie case of serious negligence in the discharge of their duties and said the suspension would remain in force pending further inquiry.
The collapse has also triggered questions over building safety inspections in the national capital. Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj criticised Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s government and the MCD, questioning the effectiveness of safety audits reportedly conducted after the collapse of a building operating as a boys’ paying guest accommodation in South Delhi’s Satya Niketan on September 6.
“Rekha Gupta’s government and MCD conducted multiple safety audits of all buildings in Delhi, yet buildings keep collapsing. Why?” Bharadwaj asked.
The latest incident comes days after two men were killed when slabs of a building collapsed during construction of an additional floor in the Milan Garden area of northeast Delhi. The victims, identified as Chanderpal, 60, and Vijay Kumar, 33, were trapped under the debris and later declared dead after being rescued and taken to hospital.
The cause of Thursday’s collapse and the extent of damage were not immediately known.
