The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday suspended two junior level officials, including an assistant engineer and a junior engineer, in connection with the collapse of a building under construction in Old Delhi’s Chawri Bazaar that killed two people and left four others injured.
In separate office orders, the Deputy Commissioner of the Old Delhi Zone placed the two officials under suspension with immediate effect. The orders cited a prima facie case of serious negligence in the discharge of their duties.
“In view of the recent incident and the developments arising therefrom, and considering the prima facie case of severe dereliction of duty, you are hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect, pending further inquiry,” the orders stated.
The action comes after a three-storey building under construction collapsed in Gali Sitara near Chawri Bazaar Metro station around 9.50 am on Thursday.
Two people were killed after being trapped under the debris, while several others were feared trapped, police said.
A Delhi Fire Services rescue team pulled out two bodies from the rubble. Four people had been taken to a hospital by locals before the fire department’s teams arrived, an official said.
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The identities of the deceased are yet to be ascertained, police said.
Multiple teams, including personnel from the Delhi Fire Services, were engaged in rescue operations at the site.
A senior MCD official said that the plot on which the three-storey building collapsed measured 50 square metres. No building plan had been sanctioned for the structure, and no complaints regarding the construction had been received by the civic body.
The official added that the building was under construction, but work had been halted around 15 days ago. Workers were in the process of removing the support system beneath the roof when the collapse occurred. The material used in the construction was non-engineered and had not set properly, which may have contributed to the collapse, officials said.
