Delhi: 100-feet mobile tower falls in Safdarjung, residents recall protests against installation

Responding to the incident, MCD Commissioner Ashwini Kumar said, “The builder and the telecom agency are responsible for the structure. There are telecom rules as per which they were permitted within a time frame.”

In a statement to the press, the Delhi Police said, “The tower had fallen on the road across the service lane of Africa Avenue Road. As the tower was around 100 feet long, while falling, it struck BSES wires, resulting in damage to electric poles and wires, and also caused some trees to break. No one was injured in this incident. Further enquiry revealed that the mobile tower had been installed around one month ago with the permission of MCD. The staff of the mobile tower company dismantled the tower into pieces and cleared the service lane.”

“Had it fallen in the opposite direction, there could have been a much bigger casualty,” said Rachna Dhanrajani, a resident whose house lies right next to where the tower once stood.

Multiple residents gathered near the site Sunday morning, reiterating their long-standing protests against the tower’s installation while talking to reporters. “It hasn’t even been a month, and it’s already fallen,” said Hema Dhanrajani, another neighbour. “We were misled — initially told it was a mast light being erected. That stretch is a blackspot at night, so that made us happy. But one night, we found a full-fledged cellular tower being constructed behind curtains.”

Many in the colony said it was not just a story of infrastructural failure, but institutional failure.

“We were never consulted. We were never heard,” said Rachna Dhanrajani. “Normal insaan ki pahuch hoti hai bas police aur MCD tak — aur unhone hi humein ignore kar diya (A normal person can only reach the police or the MCD — and they were the ones who ignored us).

When The Indian Express visited the site, BSES officials were seen attempting to restore power. One worker climbed a ladder, while another operated a crane to hoist back the fallen electricity pole. “We’ll be working till at least 11 pm. Only then can we restore the supply,” said an official on the ground. In another corner, MCD workers were seen hacking away at the half-uprooted trees with axes, trying to clear the path.

According to residents, the tower has stood in the street since May 22. Several of them showed CCTV footage from the colony’s gate, capturing the structure visibly swaying in the storm before collapsing at 4:07 am. Residents alleged that despite raising objections with the MCD zonal office, the police, local MLA, and area MP, no authority intervened to halt the installation.

A detailed 13-page representation, bearing signatures of over 100 residents, had earlier been submitted to various authorities by the colony’s RWA .