New Delhi: Seven people were killed when a four-storey building collapsed in Inderlok area in North Delhi this morning.
Rescue workers also pulled out seven others from under the debris of the 50-year-old building; four of them have been seriously injured.
The building was reportedly constructed illegally.
Two officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have been suspended over the incident.
The police are currently investigating whether the building collapsed under its own weight or because of construction activities going on in the adjoining building.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
“The Commissioner has ordered an inquiry into the incident under Additional Commissioner (Engineering) of the corporation and errant civic officials in this connection will not be spared, if found guilty of any irregularity,” NDMC Public Relations Officer Yogendra Singh Mann said.
An NDMC team is working at the spot to remove the debris.
“Our immediate priority is to safeguard lives at this juncture and, therefore, a municipal team has already been deployed at the site of collapse to remove debris at the earliest,” he said.
Asked what could have been the reason for the collapse, Mann said though it was “too early to comment, we suspect a foundation digging in the neighbouring plot, could be one of the plausible reasons.”
“A notice was also sent to the neighbouring plot to stop construction earlier, but by continuing to dig, they have violated the order and hence due action will be taken against that party, if found guilty after the municipal inquiry,” he said.
Recently, three persons were killed and 12 others injured when a three-storey under-construction building collapsed in Sadar Bazar area.
In its pre-monsoon survey for the first four months of the year, the NDMC had found 140 buildings in north Delhi ‘dangerous’.
A total of 144 buildings were identified as dangerous for the period, with Sadar Paharganj zone alone accounting for 137 such structures, according to the survey report recently released by the NDMC.
While one building in Karol Bagh Zone and four in the City Zone were identified as dangerous, two structures were flagged in Rohini Zone where partial demolition has taken place, it said.
