Satya Niketan building collapse: students help clear debris, aid rescue operations

Student volunteers from nearby colleges were among the first to reach the site of the five-storey building collapse in Satya Niketan on Sunday afternoon, clearing debris and helping make way for rescue machinery, according to locals. 

“The NSUI students were the first ones to reach. I saw them working very aggressively, removing debris with their bare hands, carrying huge blocks of cement,” said Mahender Singh, a resident who runs a sports products company. 

“I first heard a massive sound but ignored it, thinking someone must have had loud music on. But then someone said a building had collapsed and I rushed to the site,” he added. 

Around 2.30 p.m., personnel from the Delhi Fire Service and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had begun rescue operations, but earthmovers had yet to reach the site and the public was still gathered in the area, residents said. The call about the collapse had been made around 1.30 p.m. 

Student volunteers and police personnel dispersed the crowd and formed a human chain along the road to make way for the earthmovers. Before the machines arrived, the volunteers removed chunks of brick, mud and stone, along with damaged vehicles, from the area. They also opened access to a nearby MCD park so that debris could be dumped there. 

One student climbed onto an earthmover and tied up dangling wires to clear its passage to the collapse site. 

A video showing a student trapped under the debris was also circulated among student groups. 

“A first-year B.Com. student, Aditya, from Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma (ARSD) College made a video of another student being trapped under the debris. While Aditya was safely rescued, the student seen trapped in the video could not be saved,” said Vansh Rajput, another student from the college. 

Students living in nearby paying guest (PG) accommodations and hostels were evacuated and provided food and shelter at Sri Venkateswara College and ARSD. 

Students were also evacuated from a girls’ PG adjacent to the collapsed building after it suffered structural damage. 

“My daughter lives in a nearby PG. She just finished her graduation from Venkateswara College. At the time of the collapse, I was just seconds away from the site. I rushed to my daughter’s PG,” said Jonali Boradas, who had come from Assam to visit her children. 

Mr. Singh also alleged that unauthorised construction was widespread in the area. “The entire area is full of illegal construction. The building had walls with just four inches thickness and no pillars for support. A year ago, another building had collapsed in the area,” he said. 

The collapse also prompted concerns over the safety and facilities available at private student accommodations in the area. 

Manish Sharma, national in-charge of the Indian Youth Congress, said, “As private student accommodations accumulate in the city, governments should look at what facilities they are providing to students. When we think of larger education reforms, these issues form part of it. What is it that we are offering the youth?”