All posts tagged: saidulajab building collapse

‘Fabricated inspection records to mislead investigators’: South Delhi building collapse report flags MCD lapses

‘Fabricated inspection records to mislead investigators’: South Delhi building collapse report flags MCD lapses

Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi didn’t monitor or crack down on illegal construction, sat on multiple complaints, failed to enforce norms and later fabricated retrospective inspection records to mislead investigators, a magisterial inquiry into the collapse of an unauthorised building in south Delhi’s Saidulajab in May has found. The Saidulajab site where a building collapsed in May this year that killed 6. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo) The 80-page inquiry report into the accident — where a four-storey building collapsed on May 30 when two additional floors were under construction, burying a canteen, damaging a neighbouring coaching institute, and killing six people — concluded that the disaster was preventable. It cleared the Delhi Police, Delhi Jal Board and power discom BSES of any wrongdoing, but flagged that one person was shuttled between multiple hospitals in the critical hours before his death. “The collapse primarily resulted from unauthorised structural additions and inadequate regulatory enforcement…most significant deficiencies were found in the monitoring and enforcement mechanism of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi,” said the report, submitted by the …

Years of MCD inaction despite repeated warnings led to building collapse in Delhi’s Saket, SC told

Years of MCD inaction despite repeated warnings led to building collapse in Delhi’s Saket, SC told

A court-appointed amicus curiae has delivered a scathing indictment of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over the May 30 collapse of an illegally constructed building near Saket Metro station that killed six people, saying the tragedy was the result of years of official inaction despite repeated warnings, litigation before the Delhi High Court and documented violations dating back to 2012. At least six people were killed and 14 injured when the five-storey building at Western Marg in Saidulajab, Saket, collapsed on May 30. (Ishant Chauhan/Hindustan Times) In a status report filed before the Supreme Court, senior advocate Ajit Kumar Sinha, appointed as amicus curiae by a bench led by Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, sought a detailed probe into the role of MCD officials, a city-wide structural audit of buildings falling within the municipal body’s jurisdiction and a sweeping exercise to seal and demolish illegal structures. MCD did not respond to HT’s repeated requests for a comment on the report. The report was filed in the larger proceedings in which the Supreme Court is monitoring illegal …

Delhi’s fragile foundation: Repeated house collapse, unchecked expansion of the city

Delhi’s fragile foundation: Repeated house collapse, unchecked expansion of the city

The collapse of a building in Saidulajab on Saturday, which killed at least six people, is not an isolated accident. Experts, officials and past records suggest it is a manifestation of a much larger crisis unfolding across Delhi, where hundreds of unauthorised colonies and urban villages are dotted with buildings that flout norms, leaving millions of people vulnerable to disaster in the very houses they live in. NDRF team conduct a rescue operation as the building collapsed in Saidulajab, Saket, on Sunday. (Ishant Chauhan/ HT Photo) The six-storey structure, where two additional floors were allegedly being constructed atop an existing building, came crashing down beside a dining mess frequented by postgraduate students, including doctors and engineers. Locals said the building housed offices and co-working spaces on its lower floors, while construction activity was underway above. Civic officials said the structure stood in an unauthorised colony where no new construction should have been permitted in the first place. “There are no approved layout plans or building plans in this area. It is an unauthorised colony that has …

‘He was to come home for holidays’: Dreams cut short as Delhi building collapse kills two friends

‘He was to come home for holidays’: Dreams cut short as Delhi building collapse kills two friends

Kapil, 28, was hopeful about making it to the coveted Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) on Saturday after his interview had gone well. He gathered five of his friends for a small celebration at a canteen in Delhi’s Saidulajab area in the evening, his friends told news agency PTI. NDRF team conduct a rescue operation as the building collapsed in Saidulajab, Saket last night, in New Delhi, India, on Sunday, May 31, 2026. (Ishant Chauhan/ Hindustan Times) But celebration turned into tragedy when a multi-storey building collapsed and the debris crashed onto the tin-shed canteen that is frequented by students preparing for competitive examinations such as Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). Kapil died, along with his friend Nalin Ray, both former students of Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology (MIT) in Bihar and later associated with a coaching institute in Delhi. Celebration turns into tragedy “Kapil had called his friends because his interview had gone very well. They were sitting together in the canteen when …