‘Cracks, no emergency exit’: Lapses under probe after Delhi building crumbles

Construction of additional floors, ongoing repair work in the basement and on the ground floor carried out allegedly without permission, inadequate safety checks, including no emergency exit: these are among the safety lapses that are under scrutiny following the collapse of the five-storey building that housed a PG accommodation, located in the heart of Southwest Delhi’s Satya Niketan, on Sunday, sources told The Indian Express.

In the resettlement colony, which comprises 299 houses, residents claim that this is the fourth such incident in roughly 15 years. The last major incident was reported in 2022, which claimed two lives. The building, which was constructed in the late 1990s and is spread over 55 square yards, was gradually turned into a paying guest (PG) accommodation.

Police officers are also investigating if the operation of the PG facility was in compliance with the rules, said sources. Even as locals have said that cracks were visible in the building before it crumbled, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has said that no official complaint was ever recorded against it.

The building, marked by the MCD as P-14, comprised a basement, and four floors above the ground floor. According to the locals, two additional floors were added to the building around two years ago. The police investigation is expected to establish when and how these floors were constructed and whether the necessary permissions were taken.

A resident told The Indian Express that the entire area is a resettlement colony that was once a JJ colony zone and under a green belt. It was later named Satya Niketan. “As it became the hub of South Campus, with five Delhi University colleges located nearby, many residents converted [their properties] into multi-storey buildings to rent them out to students,” he said.

Each floor in the building reportedly had four rooms. The rooms were being rented out on a bed-by-bed basis, with rents varying depending on the floor. A room on the ground floor was reportedly being rented at Rs 18,000 per bed, while the rent on the third floor was around Rs 16,000.

On the fourth floor. The rent was around Rs 14,000 per bed. The rooms on the second floor were reportedly not rented out. Residents also said there was no second exit from the building to allow exit in case of emergency.

The property was reportedly being operated as a PG after being leased to an entity known as 'Hostel Daze'. Sources said that the building was owned by three Gurgaon-based brothers— Hari Ram Bansal, Anand Bansal and Azad Bansal.

It was leased to Hostel Daze last year and was being used as accommodation. The exact nature of the lease arrangements, the permissions for running PG accommodation and whether the building met the required safety norms are likely to form part of the investigation, sources said.

Local residents said repair work had been taking place for about a week before the collapse. The building was reportedly from dampness, cracks and water accumulation. "This has raised a key question: if visible structural or water-related problems existed, was a structural assessment conducted before repair work began?," a police officer said.

The police officer said during the probe it will also be examined whether the repair work itself had any bearing on the collapse and whether any load-bearing elements were altered during the work. The incident has also brought renewed attention to the safety of old buildings and PG accommodation in Satya Niketan, an area where a large number of students live in rented accommodation, and whether these are being systematically inspected for structural and fire-safety risks.