23-yr-old dies as building collapses in Model Town

New Delhi: A 23-year-old man died while several others sustained injuries after a building collapsed in northwest Delhi's Model Town on Saturday. A Delhi Fire Service officer said, "We received an alert at 4pm about a house undergoing demolition in Mahendru Enclave collapsing."Four fire tenders were dispatched to the site with 24 fire officers deployed to conduct the search and rescue operation. Jitender Kumar Meena, DCP (North West), told TOI, "The building involved was over 40 years old and in a dilapidated condition. Some sections of it were used as a banquet hall."Meena added, "Our investigation team has ascertained that one person succumbed to injuries and three others sustained injuries. Of the injured, while one is undergoing treatment, two have been discharged from the hospital. The injured were labourers engaged in the demolition and reconstruction of the building."The labourer who died has been identified as Vishal, a 23-year-old JCB operator. Preliminary investigations suggest that Vishal and others were at work when the structure collapsed on them.CL Meena, assistant divisional officer, Delhi Fire Service, said, "This building measures approximately 1,000 square feet and a significant portion of it is aged. Around 400 sq ft of the building, which had already been marked for demolition, collapsed."The officer added, "The building has a heavy TV tower on top, which put pressure on the structure. At this juncture, after the collapse of the building structure underneath, the TV tower is dangerously tilted towards the residential area and needs to be removed. Efforts are under way to have it shifted." Vehicles in the area were also damaged when the building collapsed.MCD has asked the department concerned to survey the adjacent buildings to ascertain if the collapse had affected their structural integrity.Reacting to the incident, leader of the opposition in MCD, Raja Iqbal Singh of BJP, alleged that mayor Shelly Oberoi neither monitored the situation regarding dilapidated buildings nor emphasised completing the survey on time. “The survey of dilapidated buildings was supposed to be completed before the monsoon, but it remains incomplete to date,” Singh alleged. “This negligence has led to the building collapsing. Moreover, the buildings that are falling down are not even those listed as dilapidated in the corporation's records. I insist that the families of those who lost their lives in these building collapses are given compensation of Rs 1 crore each, and those injured are given Rs 50 lakh each.”