00:00Deaths have been reported, buildings have collapsed and the business, however, of the PG housing continues as usual.
00:08But meanwhile, let's give you an update.
00:09Seven lives have been lost in a building collapse and the FIIA now points to a series of alleged construction
00:14violations that preceded the tragedy.
00:16This was not a new structure.
00:18It was a 40 to 50 year old building standing in a densely packed locality.
00:23Yet over the years, the structure had grown into a basement and five floors.
00:28The upper floors were being used as PG in around 10 rooms, housing students while a medical shop operated in
00:34the ground floor.
00:35And at the time of the collapse, really, renovation work was underway.
00:39Workers were digging up the basement while a load bearing pillar was being dismantled.
00:45Then came heavy rain and structure gave way.
00:48The FIIA also alleges that four floors were added illegally, with the additional construction allegedly driven by the prospect of
00:56higher rental income.
00:56It further alleges that owners were aware of the building's old foundation and knew it was not designed to carry
01:03the additional load.
01:04Yet the work was on.
01:06Despite that, the FIIA alleges construction continues.
01:09The investigation has now invoked charges including culpable homicide, rash acts, endangering life, negligence in construction.
01:18In the building owner, Hari Ram Gupta, named in electricity documents connected to the property, he has been sent to
01:2414-day judicial custody.
01:25His wife, Urmila Gupta, named also in the property documents.
01:28She, too, has been sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
01:30And the son, Mahesh, that allegedly ran the PG with his father, has been remanded to two days of police
01:36custody as the investigation now moves forward.
01:38The government is also looking beyond this one building.
01:41Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has met with the injured and their families at Ames.
01:45The Chief Minister says the building safety and PG regulations were discussed.
01:48And the government has ordered structural audits of existing PG's with a focus on stricter safety checks.
01:55Delhi's PG rules are also set for review.
01:57And with thousands of students sort of dependent on private accommodation, the government says it is exploring more housing options
02:04for students, including the possibility of using the vacant DTA housing.
02:07But this is not the first building collapse to hit Satana Ketan, remember.
02:11Around four years ago, an under-construction building collapsed in the same area, killing two workers.
02:16And the distance, barely 200 meters from the latest collapse site.
02:20All of this was not enough to ring alarm bells.
02:23Now the deaths, still not enough to shake up others into action.
02:29You can clearly see as to how, when this building had collapsed around four years back, the debris had come
02:36down and debris is still lying here.
02:38We can still see the remains of debris, which is still lying here.
02:42And under the same debris, two workers had died while they were, you know, taking part in a construction activity
02:50of this building.
02:51This building was under construction.
02:52In fact, it was half constructed.
02:54And while the construction was going on, the building had collapsed due to which two workers had lost their lives.
03:00So, now, the kind of incident which has happened in Satana Ketan, telling us that, despite this incident, no lessons
03:07were learned by the authorities.
03:08And this building, when it was being constructed, it had completed almost two floors.
03:14And during the construction itself, it got collapsed and two workers had died.
03:20Now the point here is that, why no actions were taken by the authorities?
03:24In fact, as we are reporting, we also found an interesting, you know, board here, interesting notice here, right in
03:32front of this collapsed under construction building,
03:35where it is mentioned that, if you want to take some property on rent, you can contact on the given
03:42numbers.
03:43So, this shows the irony here in Satana Ketan that, A, A, no lessons were learned, B, despite such incidents,
03:51no actions were taken,
03:53C, had actions been taken around four years back, then incident of this scale, where seven people have lost lives
03:59in Satana Ketan, would not have happened.
04:02With video journalist, Sanjay, I'm Piyush Mishra in Delhi, Fundya Rode.
