Delhi building collapse triggers debate on safety of nearby structures

New Delhi: The building collapse in the Indian capital on Monday night has put a question mark on the safety of other residential buildings situated on the eastern banks of the River Yamuna after reports that waterlogging has weakened their foundations.

At least 66 people were killed in Monday's incident. The building housed scores of migrant families.

Investigators believe the 15-year-old four-storeyed building situated in a working class area of eastern Delhi, had been weakened by recent flooding brought on by some of the strongest monsoon rains in decades.

Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, who has been in power for the last 12 years, promised to bring the guilty to book.

"Our top priority is to clear the debris. An inquiry has been ordered and the guilty will not be spared," she said.

Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna, who visited the accident site yesterday morning, has requested the Central Building Research Institute to do a survey of such localities in East Delhi. "There has always been a question mark on the safety of buildings in this area. Any building found unsafe will be considered for retro-fitting, but those not worth that will be sealed and demolished," Khanna said.

Several illegal residential colonies have come up near the eastern banks of the River Yamuna over the last two decades.

The local authorities preferred to either look the other way or get these colonies regularised, putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk.