3 contractors arrested in Faridabad after building collapse in Delhi's Chawri Bazar

Delhi Police have arrested three contractors in connection with the collapse of an under-construction building near Chawri Bazar Metro Station in Old Delhi, which claimed two lives and left several others injured.The accused, identified as Siraj, Tajuddin and Furkan, were arrested from Dauj village in Faridabad, Haryana.All three accused are residents of Delhi's Ajmeri Gate area. The arrests come after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) suspended an assistant engineer and a junior engineer over prima facie evidence of serious negligence in connection with the collapse. The civic body had also ordered an FIR against the contractor.HOW THE BUILDING COLLAPSEDA three-storey under-construction building in Gali Sheesh Mahal, in the Paiwalan area near Chawri Bazar Metro Station, collapsed around 10.30 am on Thursday, bringing down the entire structure and trapping several people under the debris. Credit: PTI According to preliminary findings, unauthorised construction on the second and third floors may have contributed to the collapse. SDM Manoj Kumar said the structure had been built on a small plot and that its temporary supports, known as centring, may have been removed before the concrete and debris had properly dried and set.Explaining the suspected sequence of events, Kumar said the premature removal of the temporary supports may have caused the structure to give way. The wet concrete and debris subsequently set inside the basement, making the rescue operation more challenging. The MCD also found that no building plan had been approved for the 50-square-metre plot.RESCUE OPERATIONS CHALLENGED BY NARROW LANEThe Delhi Fire Services received a call about the collapse around 9.50 am and deployed six fire units for rescue operations. The building was located in a densely populated locality at the end of a narrow, dead-end lane, barely three to four feet wide, preventing heavy machinery and rescue vehicles from reaching the spot. Credit: PTI Rescue teams were consequently forced to carry out much of the operation manually. Floodlights were also deployed to facilitate the search through the night.The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), MCD, Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Delhi Police and fire services were involved in the rescue effort.The collapse left two people dead and five others injured.- Ends(With ANI inputs)