Satya Niketan building collapse: Latest student hub tragedy where safety went for a toss

The collapse of a five-storey building, serving as a paying guest accommodation, in Delhi’s Satya Nagar area, in which six people lost their lives, is just the latest in a recent series of incidents involving building safety violations, mostly in student-related accommodations in the national capital, which houses several clusters of colleges and coaching centres.

Satya Nagar: 6 dead, building sealed

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) sealed the five-storey building after its collapse, with Mayor Pravesh Wahi warning of strict action against officials found responsible for allowing illegal constructions.

The almost three-decade-old building, which has been functioning as a paying guest (PG) accommodation for students, suddenly collapsed, killing six, injuring around 10 and trapping around 15-20 people beneath the rubble.

In the wake of the incident, the MCD has ordered illegal buildings above four floors to be sealed off immediately.

The MCD, in its notice, in which it ordered the owner to vacate the premises, said that the property was in a “ruinous/dangerous condition”. It says the condition of the building posed a potential danger to people occupying it and those passing by it.

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The Opposition has lashed out at the government over the incident, raising questions over building safety audits.

The Congress, demanding an answer from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the failure of building safety audits in the national capital, asked if authorities had undertaken regular structural inspections of PG and rented accommodation where students live and whether corrective actions were taken.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has earned the confidence of students after its successful protest in Delhi, has asked till when students would pay the price for failing infrastructure.

The common thread that joins the latest incident with similar tragedies in the past is the failure of concerned authorities to enforce checks and scrutiny in place to ensure compliance with existing guidelines, encouraging owners and tenants to violate guidelines over a long period of time, and to take action only after tragedy strikes.

Here are the tragedies Delhi has seen in the recent past:

June 2023 coaching centre fire

As many as 61 people were injured after a blaze ripped through a building housing Sanskriti coaching centre in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar area on June 15, 2023.

Visuals of the fire showed students breaking windows and escaping the building by rappelling down ropes and ladders.

The MCD later said that a short circuit in the electric metre on the ground floor of the building caused the fire.

In the wake of the incident, the Delhi High Court ordered an audit of such buildings while seeking responses from the Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Police and the MCD. The court asked authorities to check whether fire safety certificates were issued to educational institutions.

Also read: Delhi fire: How locals risked lives to smash windows, saved leaping people with mattresses

Police arrested two officials of the coaching centres operating out of the building on charges of negligence.

While they were later released on bail, investigations revealed that the officials had not taken sufficient measures to prevent fire incidents or implement rescue protocol in case of such blazes. Investigations also revealed that the building didn’t have any fire safety equipment, smoke detectors or even water in rooftop tanks to douse the fire. While the building was found to be lacking a proper fire no objection certificate (NOC) for educational use, students alleged the coaching classes in the building were packed beyond capacity. Senior fire officials, however, said that coaching institutes are not legally required to have a fire NOC, pointing to legal loopholes.

The incident raised safety alarms for thousands of aspirants preparing for competitive exams in coaching centres of Mukherjee Nagar and living in its cramped PG accommodations.

September 27 fire at PG accommodation

Barely three months later, on September 27, 2023, a massive fire broke out inside Signature Apartment, a PG accommodation in Mukherjee Nagar. As many as 20 fire tenders were deployed to douse the blaze, and 35 girls trapped inside the building were rescued. Six of them were admitted to hospital due to suffocation caused by smoke.

A short circuit in the electricity board near the sole staircase is said to have ignited the blaze, which spread rapidly through the four-storey building.

Investigations found that the accommodation did not have any emergency doors or a staircase. The women were rescued with the use of a ladder connecting the building’s rooftop with a nearby house.

Locals accused the PG owner of running a commercial unit in the residential complex, while students pointed out that wooden panels used as walls between rooms aggravated the fire.

Delhi Fire Service said that structures under 15 metres often escaped mandatory NOCs. In the wake of the incident, the MCD ordered a survey of all PGs in the Civil Lines zone and registered a negligence case only after the incident.

July 2024 coaching centre basement flooding

Then came the deadliest calamity on July 27, 2024, in Old Rajinder Nagar, another coaching hub, when three civil service aspirants drowned after the basement of their coaching centre, Rau’s IAS Coaching Centre, was flooded after water surged into the building following heavy rains. Many trapped in the basement were also rescued

The incident threw the spotlight on the trend among coaching centres to use their basements for study purposes without following any safety guidelines or exit routes in case of an accident.

A series of arrests followed, and the investigation was entrusted to the CBI. The agency, in its report, said the basement was illegally used as a library and study space meant for more than 20 students despite being sanctioned only for storage and parking purposes.

Also read: What caused Delhi coaching centre tragedy? A cocktail of flouted rules and lapses

The CBI said MCD officials knew the basement was being used as an exam hall and coaching facility, but records continued showing it as a storage space.

It was also alleged that the building also didn’t have proper drainage and the road drains were blocked by ramps and encroachments, while the stretch was saucer-shaped and hadn’t been desilted for years, making it prone to inundation. The building had also violated fire NOC conditions, and earlier MCD notices had not led to its sealing.

The coaching centre’s owner and coordinator were arrested. Soon after, the MCD cracked down on other coaching centres and sealed many of them for illegally operating libraries or conducting classes in their basements.