Delhi: Cave-in swallows ten houses near ITO

NEW DELHI: Within two hours of Sunday’s morning rain, a road in the slum area of ITO’s Anna Nagar caved in partially, swallowing at least 10 houses and leaving at least 50 people homeless.
“All we now own is what we are wearing,” cried 60-year-old widow Santosh, a clipping of whose house collapsing due to the cave-in has since gone viral.

“It rains every year but this time, construction activity is going on opposite our home, across the drain.Around 8am, people started screaming, asking everyone to come out. We wondered why, but as soon as we stepped out, we knew something was terribly wrong,” said Pushpa, who has also lost her home. “A huge neem tree had just collapsed, leading to a cave-in. Rainwater started gushing in, and as we ran towards safety, we saw our houses collapse behind us,” she told TOI.
The slum has around 2,000 residents and fortunately there wasn’t any casualty. But many residents had a similar horror story to share. “Just after I heard clouds roaring, people started screaming ‘bhaago! bhaago!’. We quickly picked up our children and ran outside. Barely a few seconds after we stepped out, our house collapsed like a pack of cards,” said Vikram.
“We have been living here since the past 40 years. Who will compensate for our loss? My sister is blind and it took us at least five minutes to get her out. Had we taken just a few more seconds to come out, we would have died,” said Guddi.
Slum residents and the public works department blame National Buildings Construction Company (NBCC), which is reconstructing a portion of the World Health Organization (WHO) building.
The land, an official said, belongs to South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). Temporary sheds next to the corporation’s drain no. 12 have been erected and being used by NBCC contractor labourers working for the WHO building, said an SDMC spokesperson.
However, NBCC said it had nothing to do with the collapse and the reconstruction was going on for four months. “We have taken all precautions and faced damage ourselves due to the heavy rainfall. We are helping in the rehabilitation process,” an official said.
The SDMC commissioner, along with the additional commissioner and other civic officials, visited the spot. the corporation has deployed three super sucker machines with 18 tankers, one suction-cum-jetting machine and two pumps to remove the water, said the spokesperson. CATS ambulances and fire engines were also rushed to the spot.
Most residents are now scared to stay in the slum during the monsoon. While some have managed to shift, others said they won’t open their shops and would soon move to a safer place. “What will happen if it rains more than it did today? I don’t want to take a chance and will shift to my relative’s house,” said Ravi Kumar, whose family has seven members.