IAS officer Sanjeev Khirwar, who was transferred out of Delhi in 2022 amid allegations that athletes at Delhi’s Thyagaraj Stadium complex were asked to leave early so that the bureaucrat could “walk his dog”, finds himself in the national spotlight again after a decades-old five-storey block in south-west Delhi’s Satya Niketan crashed down over the weekend, claiming seven lives.
This time people have lost lives. It collapsed during repair work on Sunday. The building, known as ‘Hostel Daze’, housed a boys’ PG. The Satya Niketan area is home to hundreds of university students living in crowded accommodation. A regular identification is conducted. An aerial view showing search and rescue operations in Delhi’s Satya Niketan area following building collapse
But now, we are asked to leave the ground by 7 pm so that the officer can walk his dog on the ground. “We used to train till 8-8.30 pm under lights earlier. Our training and practice routine has been disrupted,” the Indian Express had quoted a coach as saying in a May 26, 2022 article. Read | Reporter’s Diary: The Day A Building Fell And Delhi Watched In Horror “In August, we had passed demolition orders for 3-4 buildings in the same area. In the last three months, 960 demolitions were carried out, 407 buildings were sealed, and notices were served to 1,500 buildings for sealing and demolition.
Read: The Critical Task That Brought An Unstable Delhi Building Down, Killing 7 Khirwar was appointed the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in January , eclipsing “walking the dog” in stadium episode and marking a return to the national capital. Khirwar, who was then Delhi’s Principal Secretary (Revenue), had termed the allegation “absolutely incorrect”. He accepted that he “sometimes” took his pet for a walk at the facility but denied that it disrupted the athletes’ practice. (Khirwar faced allegations of emptying a stadium of athletes to walk his dog) Four years later, he finds himself at the centre of another Delhi row. This is a regular process to take action against unauthorised construction,” Khirwar said.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student body affiliated with the RSS, has demanded the resignation of the MCD commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar over the building collapse. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who arrived in Satya Niketan to oversee the second day of search and rescue operations, has ordered sealing of all buildings in the city which have five floors. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta oversees the rescue operations at the building collapse site in Satya Niketan “Strict action will be taken against MCD officials found responsible. “A policy is also being drafted requiring owners of old buildings to submit structural audit reports and certify their safety before operating paying guest (PG) services, nursing homes, schools or other commercial establishments.
The collapsed building was property no 14, according to an MCD statement. The collapsed structure, built on around 55 square yards, was a Ground+4 building in a resettlement colony where the erstwhile permission was only for a Ground+1 unit and no building plan was approved, according to MCD officials. Around 150 to 200 ABVP members gathered at the MCD headquarters on Sunday to protest against the functioning of the civic body. At present, the BJP has a majority in the 250-seat city corporation, which is led by Pravesh Wahi, a BJP councillor from Rohini East, who serves as the mayor. Instructions have been issued to immediately seal buildings in Delhi having a fifth floor, Rekha Gupta said Hariram Bansal, owner of the Delhi building, was arrested from Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, following a massive multi-state manhunt with 10 teams.
Instructions have been issued to immediately seal buildings in Delhi having a fifth floor,” she said in a statement. Talking to reporters, Gupta said water accumulation in the basement of the Satya Niketan building led to the collapse. A structural audit will be conducted of all such buildings, and strict action will follow, she said. Officials found responsible for negligence will also face immediate action,” she said.
Delhi Police had earlier issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against him after he went missing following the collapse.
On Monday, a day after the tragedy, the Delhi civic body suspended five officials with immediate effect . The suspended officials are: Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner (South Zone), Superintending Engineer Ranvir Singh, Executive Engineer (Building) Lalit Kumar Goel, Assistant Engineer (Building) Sunil Chauhan and Junior Engineer (Building) Ashish Kumar of the South Zone. Video: Moment Delhi Building Came Crashing Down And Turned Into Rubble The waterlogging worsened with incessant rains over the past two days and repair and construction work was underway in the basement of the building, locals claimed as rescuers struggled to pull out the trapped students. The Satya Niketan building, known as ‘Hostel Daze’, housed a boys’ PG ” New academic session mein repaint karte hain (they only repaint the building at the start of the academic session), so how will we know and find out if a building is dilapidated?
On September 6, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi issued an order for property no 13 in Satya Niketan, directing the owner or occupier to tear down the structure, citing that it posed a threat to residents, visitors, passersby, and neighbouring buildings.
After the building collapse, locals complained of a persistent waterlogging problem, alleged unchecked construction and “apathy” of building owners and civic agencies in the area. MCD koi inspection nahi karti (They do not carry out any inspection),” a local told news agency PTI. A witness said the incident could have been worse had it occurred on a working day, as many students from nearby areas had returned home for the weekend.
