Delhi hostel collapse: 7 killed, still no clear tally of trapped

Well, today we are not going to begin with the usual race to power story. We are going to talk about a far more grim reality. Years of neglect, corruption, governance failure, and the blatant flouting of rules that has left innocent people paying with their lives in India's national capital. Because in Delhi, tragedy has become a familiar cycle. Disaster strikes, a few officers are suspended or they're sacked, compensation is announced, promises are made, and then there is silence until the next tragedy. This time, it began like any other Sunday for students living in a PG hostel in Satya Niketan, a student hub next to South Delhi's most expensive neighborhoods, an area surrounded by Delhi University colleges and home to thousands of young students. And then, in a matter of seconds, their world came crashing down, literally. The building collapsed, turning the hostel into a death trap. At least seven people have lost their lives so far, 12 have been rescued, and more than 24 hours later, there is still no clear answer to the most basic, most terrifying question. How many people are still buried under the debris? This is not just a story about a building that collapsed. It's a story about a system that collapsed long before the building did. Police nabbed the owner of the building, Hariram Bansal, from Biwadi in Rajasthan. The Delhi civic body suspended five officials with immediate effect. Deputy Commissioner, South Zone, Rakesh Kumar, Superintendent Engineer, Ranveer Singh, Executive Engineer Building, Lalit Kumar Goyal, Assistant Engineer Building, Sunil Chauhan, and Junior Engineer Building, Ashish Kumar of the South Zone. The Delhi High Court, meanwhile, has called for a high-level probe into this incident. The court said hostel facilities for students who come from outside the city to study are in a pathetic condition. The judges issued strong remarks against the Delhi government and the civic body, directing one to increase the number of hostels, and ordering the other to ensure that the building, by laws, be maintained, and their condition be examined, and a report be submitted within a week. Notices have been issued to the Delhi University, the civic body, the National Human Rights Commission, the Delhi government, the central government, and the Delhi police. After the High Court, RAP, the DU Vice-Chancellor, urged the college principals to review student accommodation and explore plans to construct new hostels. The incident has triggered questions over the safety of buildings used as PG accommodation, and the enforcement of construction and fire safety norms in densely populated parts of the national capital. I live in a double-sharing house. There is no privacy for the students. The buildings are so big that there are no elevators to climb the stairs. Climbing the stairs ruins the condition. The quality of food in many PG houses is poor. We are forced to buy food. No one has been audited yet. The PG owners will charge you a good security rent for a month, and then they charge you for maintenance. The police will verify you. You can talk to your father or brother. But we want security. Your infrastructure is bad. We look at that. Who do we ask for that? According to MCD's preliminary assessment, the property had no sanctioned building plan for the existing structure, unauthorized construction in its basement, and no fire NOC. Yet, the report also said that there was no record of the property having been booked or sealed before the collapse. However, locals living in the area claim that authorities had earlier issued a notice against the now-collapsed building. This has once again put the civic body's building safety enforcement under scrutiny. In 2020, following directions from the Delhi High Court, the three Astral Municipal Corporations set a six-month deadline for structural safety certificates for specified categories of high-risk and older buildings, including structures built before seismic provisions were incorporated into Delhi's buildings bylaws. Six years later, the compliance figures remain limited. According to figures reported by Hindustan Times, the MCD identified 4,762 high-risk and old structures and issued notices to 4,571. Structural audit reports were received for only 1,155, with demolition being carried out in 56 cases and retrofitting in 47. Well, Delhi has seen deadly building collapses for years now. They happen when multiple failures converge, poor construction practices, illegal land use, inadequate safety systems, weak enforcement, administrative negligence, and a lack of public awareness. Preventing future tragedies requires more than arrests or suspensions. It demands a culture of compliance, regular audits, strict accountability, and active participation from building owners, authorities, as well as occupants. Because if systemic failures remain unaddressed, the cycle will continue. There will be outrage after every tragedy, a few arrests, promises of action, and then once again silence until another building turns into a death trap. Dr. and Professor Vikram Singh is a former DGP in Uttar Pradesh. He is now joining us live from Noida. Professor Singh, welcome to Vyond. In your assessment of the tragedy and all the reports from the Delhi government, who should be held accountable for this tragedy? Good evening, Shreya and Eric. Thank you very much for having me over on your prestigious platform. Well, I would be pretty brutal in my assessment of the situation. I hold the MCD, the Delhi government, the Delhi fire service, the Delhi police, the landlord who has been arrested, and as also the Delhi University fully responsible for this avoidable tragedy. This is cumulative corruption and cumulative failure and institutionalized corruption, and I would stop at that. And Shreya, you see what's the culture of compliance. We have no such culture, unfortunately. There are 75 lakh dwelling places in Delhi, and only one lakh have the necessary permits. We'll try and connect with the professor. He was just giving us a view of what the situation is like and who should take responsibility or the honors when it comes to building tragedies in Delhi and also around the country because this is not an isolated case. There have been cases where buildings have been crumbling around India, and this comes in the backdrop of another case that happened just a few months ago in the national capital, Delhi, Shreya. That's right, and it obviously raises concerns once again, but the more frustrating part is the fact that there has been unchecked corruption going on as far as illegal construction is concerned, and Satya Niketan is a prime example of that. What has happened here is the result of illegal expansion of buildings by house owners. This is a clear case of corruption at the local level. Whether or not suspension or arrests will pave the way for more compliance and less violations, we'll have to wait and watch, but clearly this is extremely unfortunate what has happened because of the negligence and the corruption of certain individuals. There is a loss of life, and young students are suffering. I believe we have Dr. Singh back with us on the broadcast. Dr. Singh, go ahead. You were telling us more about who you think should be held accountable. All the six stakeholders are primarily responsible. A plumber. It is not rocket science to predict that we are chopping at our own roots. This plumber, 24 hours earlier, reported and predicted that if you are tinkering with the basement, you are courting the recipe of disaster, and this building is going to collapse. But nobody paid heed. It does not require the genius of a structural engineer, which was the duty of the NCD, which was the duty also of the Delhi government, also of the Delhi Fire Service, but nothing like this happened. So this cumulative failure happened because everybody is steeped in corruption and there are no consequences. Too little coming too late, as you very rightly mentioned, suspension for a few months, then reinstating all the officers, giving them their areas, and also bringing back all the black sheep. Who would know? I normally don't make individual charges, but who is the chief of the NCD? Sanjeev Kherwar IAS. He is the same IAS officer who was shunted out of Delhi. You know why? Because he wanted to walk his dog in the Tiagara Stadium and he wanted all the international players practicing there to vacate the stadium so that he and his wife and the dog could walk around. But if you have such wonderful specimens of propriety in the NCD, you can expect the end result to be equally horrendous and horrible. I would say that... Yes, please. Dr. Singh, the fact of the matter is that today this tragedy has happened, so you and I were discussing this on national television, but as we speak, there are several illegal expansions still taking place across Delhi. Take the examples of Karol Bagh, Chawri Bazaar, Chandni Chowk, you name it, these are places where you see illegal expansions happening, yet unauthorized expansion and unauthorized constructions are going unchecked. What is the way forward? What do we do about this situation? Because clearly, as you said, this is a classic case of deep-rooted corruption. Shreya and Mr. Eric, let me tell you that there are solutions if you are willing to see them. Firstly, I would say that what we have done and we have been able to do with great success, the GPS mapping and the satellite imaging gives us the power and the authority even to identify if a single brick has been removed or a single brick has been put in. Therefore, to say that you are living like Alice in Wonderland or oblivious to what is happening there, I refuse to believe that because obviously somebody has bleached your palm and therefore you choose to look the other way. When I say you, I mean all the five authorities, the MCD, the Delhi government, the Delhi police, the Delhi fire service. But you and I, if we were to go an illegitimate way to have some renovation of our washroom, rest assured there will be ten people on their two wheelers trying to ask, do you have the right permissions? Do you have the blueprint? Do you have the requisite permissions? But in such cases, as you mentioned, the prime area of Delhi, including Karol Bagh, etc., are absolutely mushrooming like forests with no check or absolutely no control by the regulating authorities. I mean, we are quoting the recipe of disaster, Shiyaji and Mr. Eric, that we could have done much better. The solution I would recommend is satellite imagery, GPS programming, as also the use of AI. We have done it where we wanted to do it, but we choose to look the other way because there are pecuniary considerations, but the less said the better. Professor Singh, now that you're talking about solutions and the way forward, what about the structural audit? Should it be conducted now? Cleaning up local civic agencies, like you mentioned, should it be done now? Tightening the noose around local netters and also officials, should it be done now, very quickly? Certainly, Mr. Eric, we should do it now better late than never. It's an uphill task, but perfectly doable because where there is a will, there is a way. This is the least we can do to save future and prevent loss of life in the future. All right, Professor Singh, great to have you with us and thank you very much for all your insights and for talking to Rion while it is one today.