NEW DELHI, December 2: Three persons died and 15 were injured when a building under construction collapsed at Gali Mir Jumla, near Lal Kuan in the Walled City. The injured have been admitted to the Lala Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, where two are said to be in a critical condition.The casualties have been identified as Babji, Daal Chand and Bhure Lal. Bhure Lal was the supervisor for the unauthorised construction. Twenty three-year-old, Yaara Ali and 22-year-old Rashid are said to be in a serious condition. All are said to have received severe head injuries.The incident took place around 10.45 a.m., when the roof of an unauthorised residential-cum-commercial construction gave way, burying under it 25 labourers working there. The fire brigade, police and local residents were still in the process of clearing debris to rescue people believed to be trapped under it.The reason for the collapse was cited to be the lack of proper support to hold up the floors, besides the hurried way the construction was being completed, without allowing sufficient time for the cement to dry before proceeding further.The injured labourers themselves seemed confused about the exact cause of the collapse. According to them the same material had been used for raising the previous blocks of the building which were now complete and even occupied. According to eye-witnesses, the construction for the building on plot numbers 1761-64 had been going on in phases for the past fortnight.The work had already finished for plot numbers 1761 to 63 where the building had been raised to five floors and had even been occupied. This building was the fourth in the series, the construction for which was expected to be finished in another week or so. The residents had been voicing their apprehension about the rest of the building being unsafe for some time.Especially since there is only three feet space used as a gali on the two sides, and in-between the buildings. Police sources said that at least four complaints had been made to the MCD office in the past fortnight, but nothing had been done to check the construction. These plots are said to be jointly owned by Mohammad Naim Ahmed and Khaji Mohammad Ali, who were raising this illegal building under two supervisors, Munna and Arshad. All the accused are said to be missing.Residents allege that the MCD has been turning a blind eye to all the illegal constructions in the area. And even though the the MCD Commissioner had made a trip to the spot, there was not a single worker from the MCD city zone working for the rescue operation. The rescue force in action comprised of the locals, police and the area zone officials. The MCD Commissioner, V.K. Duggal, on his part, has suspended four officers on account of prima facie negligence and has also ordered a vigilance enquiry into the matter, after visiting the spot. He has called for a meeting of the deputy commissioners and engineers of the zones to review the position of dangerous buildings and has ordered a thorough scanning of the city zone.An ex-gratia payment of Rs 25,000 has been announced by the Mayor, Yog Dhan Ahuja, for the families of the the deceased. Delhi Congress President Sheila Dikshit, who will take over as chief minister tomorrow, also visited the spot and announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs one lakh to the relatives of the dead and Rs 25,000 for the injured. She said that the hospital expenses of the injured would be taken care of by the Delhi government.Among others who visited the spot were, BJP leader and MP from Chandni Chowk, Vijay Goel; recently elected MLA Haroon Yusuf; and former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler.
