Ghaziabad balcony collapse | Mother and daughter grieve the loss of their sons: ‘In two minutes, my world crashed’
On Wednesday, a 25-year-old man and his three-year-old nephew were killed after the balcony of a dilapidated Economically Weaker Section (EWS) flat collapsed on them while they were buying groceries at a local shop.
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Bharti Devi, mother of the three-year-old victim (Amit Mehra)“Hatt jao waha se abhi jine se mera beta aayega (Move away from the stairs, my son will be coming down any minute),” said 25-year-old Bharti Devi before fainting into her neighbour’s lap.
Another neighbour rushed over with a glass of water, sprinkling it over her face. As Bharti regained consciousness, the crushing reality returned and she wailed out loud — her three-year-old son, Vansh, was gone.
Her grief was doubled. She had lost not only her son but also her brother, Akash (25).
Next to her, her mother Manosh Devi was inconsolable. She leaned onto a neighbour, tears flowing down her face.
On Wednesday, Akash and Vansh were buying groceries at a shop when the balcony of a dilapidated Economically Weaker Section (EWS) flat on the second floor — where a toilet was built — collapsed on them in Ghaziabad’s Tulsi Niketan. They were crushed to death.
On Thursday, the debris of the collapsed balcony remained outside the shop. Flies flitted over the blood stains on the beige tiles.
Kamlesh Devi (50), the owner of the shop, said her son Dheeraj was manning the fort when the incident happened. “He had stepped inside the store to get a plastic bag to put the milk packet in when the balcony collapsed,” she said, adding that Dheeraj suffered minor injuries while trying to pull their bodies out from the debris.
Next to the shop, 73 women sat on a carpet spread out on the road while 23 men stood around. In the middle were Bharti and Manosh.
Recollecting the events of yesterday, Bharti said her brother came home early from work — he worked at a store that restored old pressure cookers — around 6.45 pm.
She said he wanted a cup of tea and decided to head downstairs to the grocery shop, which was right next to their rented one-room accommodation, to buy a packet of milk. “Vansh wanted a Frooti (a mango juice), so Akash picked him up in his arms, and they left. Two minutes after they reached the shop, the balcony collapsed,” Bharti said.
Manosh said Akash was going to be engaged on Thursday.
“He usually came home by 9:30 pm, but on Wednesday, he got back early. He and Vansh headed down at 7.15 pm. And in two minutes, my world collapsed,” she said.
“He was the only earning member of our family,” she added.
Manosh shifted to this rented accommodation, on the first floor of the three-storeyed dilapidated GDA flat, just six months ago. She was staying with Akash and her other son, Rinku (20). They pay Rs 3,500 as rent, along with electricity charges.
Manosh’s husband, Ramavatar, died nearly 10 years ago due to paralysis.
Bharti came to stay with them three months later, along with Vansh and her six-year-old daughter Lavi, after she had fought with her husband.
Residents said Sabina Khan, who owned the flat, claimed to be the president of the International Human Rights Commission.
When The Indian Express visited the spot on Thursday, it found several boards of “her association” with the organisation outside the building. Following the incident, Khan, along with her two daughters, left the house. Despite repeated attempts, she could not be reached over the phone.
Atul Kumar Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Shalimar Garden, Ghaziabad, said an FIR has been registered against Khan under sections 290 (negligent conduct related to building) and 116(1) (grievous hurt) of the BNS after Vansh’s father, Devendra Singh, who arrived at the spot, submitted a complaint on Thursday.
According to the ACP, the father claimed that despite several requests to Khan to remove the bathroom from the balcony, she did not pay heed. “My son died after the balcony collapsed on him,” he wrote in the complaint.
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