A Building Collapse In Satya Niketan Reveals
Delhi's Fatal Blind Spot
Arnica and her roommate Mansi were in their room in South Delhi's student hub of Satya Niketan when the walls began to crack. It was just before 1.30 pm on a Sunday.
Outside, the narrow, rain-slicked lanes of the residential colony were quiet on a humid day. Inside, the two Delhi University students watched a slow-motion horror film unfold in their bedroom.
"I was making a video," one of them told NDTV, her voice still shaking two days later.
"I was literally saying in that video that this building is going to fall."
Water was pooling rapidly in their room. Cement started crumbling as cracks widened.
Within seconds, the adjacent five-storey building on plot P-14 tilted suddenly.
And then it fell. Seven people died.
Anatomy Of A Fall
What happened in the basement of P-14 on September 6 afternoon was a textbook case of engineering negligence.
Here's an AI recreation of what likely happened.
Originally built about 50 years ago, with some parts added in the 1990s, the ageing structure was never engineered to carry five storeys.
Apparent greed for rental income drove the owners to add floor after floor. The original permission on the 55-sq-ft plot was for a ground floor plus one, as this is actually a slum rehab colony.
When labourers tried to create more commercial space by working on the ground floor and in the basement, a pillar caved.
The building could no longer stay standing.
'I Still Hear Them Screaming'
The girls' room wall started crumbling too, and they ran for their lives into a choking cloud of dust as Hostel Daze on Plot P-14 imploded next door. The exit gate of their own building was blocked by debris; they and the others pushed it open together to get out.
Twelve people were eventually pulled from the mountain of concrete and twisted iron. The rescue operation ran for more than 27 hours, PTI reported. Seven died.
"In nightmares, we see the building falling. We hear the voices of those trapped boys crying, 'Save us, save us'," Arnica told NDTV.
1 Hostel Bed For Every 36 Delhi University Students
The Demand
2,51,474
Regular students in Delhi University
The Supply
6,957
Capacity of the 42 institutional hostels
The Gap
2.8%
Students get
official hostels
This supply gap pushes students into a rental market that's exploitative at best. As a result, hubs have developed across Delhi which some call "PG slums", filled with students who survive on little air, near-zero sunlight, and matchbox-like rooms stacked like Jenga blocks, filled with a pungent smell.
Camaraderie and an underlying passion to become someone keep them going, apparently.
What Next?
So far, we have only spoken of Delhi University students, but the number of students overall runs into several lakhs. The issue of illegal construction goes beyond PG houses.
For now, some officials have faced action. Several private hostels have been identified as dangerous. But the students still have to find somewhere to live. Many will return to their matchbox “homes away from home” once the dust settles.
Arnica and Mansi will not be going back to theirs. Their PG house has been declared unsafe. The government is pulling it down.
The Delhi government has formed a committee to look into deeper issues. There’s also the promise of a new law. If the past tells us anything, we must keep track and not wait for a collapse.
Produced by: NDTV News Desk
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