NEW DELHI: A three-storey building in outer Delhi’s Bawana collapsed on Friday afternoon killing four people, including a nine-year-old girl. According to officials in the Outer North district, the victims were not residents of the building, as it was abandoned, but lived nearby and had gone over to the area to graze cattle when the incident took place.
It took a two-hour-long rescue operation to rescue the bodies as well as two women who were alive and trapped in the debris, police said. According to a senior police official, the four victims were identified as — Rukaiya Khatun (55), Afrina (9), Shahzad (25) and Danish (24).
Police said the building, which was vacant, is part of the Rajiv Ratan Awas Society which has at least 300-400 flats “Around 2.45pm information was received that a building had collapsed and three to five people were buried under the debris. A total of six persons were pulled out of the debris and were rushed to hospital. Of these four people were dead
including a nine-year-old girl,” the official said. The rescued persons were identified as Fatima (21) and Shahnaz (28). A case has been registered at Narela Industrial Area police station. “Prima facie it was the building’s decapitated condition that led to the collapse.
Efforts are on to ascertain the cause,” the official said. A statement released by the Delhi government over the incident stated: “The government is closely monitoring the whole situation. It has been brought to light that the building was constructed during 2007-2010. All agencies concerned have been deployed for relief.”
Meanwhile, the BJP slammed the Delhi government for the incident and termed it a “criminal callousness”. The party said the building constructed under Rajiv Awas Yojana had been lying vacant and “unguarded” for over a decade with most of its gates, windows and rods being stolen by trespassers, weakening the structure.