Delhi building collapse: death toll rises to 70

While a five-year-boy was found dead in the debris at 11:55 PM last night,rescue workers found the body of a 40-year-old woman around 12:30 AM from the site in Lalita Park area of Laxmi Nagar.

Seven hours later,fire and medical officials said,another body of a 25-year-old man was recovered from the debris which is being cleared.

All the three were brought dead to the hospital,Amit Banerjee,Medical Superintendent of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital,said.

“No bodies have been recovered during the day after the body of the young man was spotted. The debris clearance operations are on,” the officials said.

“We are going a little bit slow in breaking concrete slabs as it supports adjoining buildings. So the debris removal is taking a little more time than usual. There may be some bodies. But there is very little chance of finding any survivor,” the officials said.

With this,the death toll in the building collapse in Lalita Park area of Laxmi Nagar has mounted to 70,which includes 29 women and 17 children.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the one-member judicial commission set up to probe the incident will find out what led to the incident and suggest measures to overhaul the system which can act as a “deterrence” against such tragedies.

“We will also go into all other aspects like who all were responsible for such a tragedy and all those responsible for allowing a three storey building have five storeys. When all these will come out,we can find a solution,” she said.

The chief minister said she will wait for the outcome of the probe before taking action against any officials involved in the incident. “Let us find out who is responsible.

Who is that person,” she said.

Even as the MCD faced flak over proliferation of illegal constructions following the east Delhi house collapse,it emerged that action was taken against only half of the unauthorised properties it booked in the last two years.

“We booked 9,568 properties since October 2008,among which action was taken against 5,000,” Municipal Commissioner K S Mehra told reporters adding,during the same period the MCD also acted against 10,000 “ongoing constructions”.

Meanwhile,opposition BJP demanded the resignation of Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia for his alleged links with Amritpal Singh,owner of the collapsed building saying he should step down for ensuring an impartial inquiry.

Senior BJP leader V K Malhotra alleged that Walia knew the arrested builder and he must resign following “serious allegations” by Singh that he had informed the Minister about accumulation of water in the building.

“The owner of the building has said that he had informed Walia about condition of the building. These are serious allegations. Even Walia had admitted that accumulation of water weakened the building leading to its collapse,” he said.

The blame-game between BJP and Congress over the incident continued even as a top leader of BJP-ruled MCD said “political pressure” often becomes a roadblock in taking action against unauthorised constructions in the city.

Opposition Congress in MCD accused the ruling BJP of not taking “any effective action” even after 72 hours of the disaster in Lalita Park that claimed 70 lives.

While Congress demanded dissolution of MCD for “failure” to check proliferation of illegal construction,BJP members sought resignation of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Urban Development Minister A K Walia,saying the building collapsed due to accumulated flood water in the basement which was not removed by Delhi government’s Flood and Irrigation Department.

Later,at a press conference,Standing Committee Chairman Yogender Chandolia said,”If anyone from MCD” is found guilty,action will be taken against him but insisted that it was being “unfairly blamed”. He accused the Delhi government of trying to “shield the guilty” by ordering a probe “that will take three months”.

At the same time,he admitted that “political pressure” often works in allowing unauthorised constructions go on unchecked. “If politicians work with honesty,such things can be prevented,” he said,adding,he will be writing a letter to the Municipal Commissioner on the issue. He asked Delhi Police to help in dealing in unauthorised construction strictly.

Relatives of those not yet traced were making a beeline at the city hospitals to trace their loved ones who are still missing.

Over 60 families,mostly labourers from West Bengal,were living in the cramped quarters of the 15-year-old building,where an illegal fifth floor was under construction.

82 injured were receiving treatment at various hospitals in the city.

The MCD has also asked the occupants of as many as 38 “dangerous” buildings in the East Delhi area to evacuate immediately after a survey it conducted in the area following directions from Delhi Government.