On Monday, a building collapsed in the Satya Niketan Market located in South Campus, prompting the Delhi Traffic Police to issue a traffic advisory. As rescue operations are underway, several major roads in the area are affected, causing significant disruptions for commuters. Authorities are urging the public to avoid the vicinity to facilitate the ongoing rescue efforts.
The collapse has claimed six lives so far. The death toll climbed to six after another body was recovered during late-night rescue efforts. NDRF, Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Police, and other agencies are continuing to clear debris and search for anyone who may still be trapped. The incident has renewed scrutiny of safety standards in buildings used as paying-guest accommodations across Delhi, along with questions about how construction and fire-safety norms are enforced in the city’s densely packed residential pockets.
The advisory asked people to use alternate routes, follow instructions from traffic personnel on the ground, and refrain from stopping, parking, or gathering near the site so that ambulances and rescue vehicles could move freely.
In a post on X, traffic police said movement was disrupted on routes connecting Safdarjung Hospital to Dhaula Kuan, RTR, and Benito Juarez Marg, and urged commuters to avoid these stretches where possible. Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told reporters that while all students at the site have been accounted for, authorities haven’t ruled out the possibility that a labourer may still be trapped under the debris.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is facing added difficulty because a neighbouring structure itself 40 to 50 years old has become unstable following the collapse, according to Sirsa.
