At least two people were killed, and another was injured after a three-storey building collapsed in Delhi’s Chawri Bazar area on Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether more people were trapped under the debris.
In the weeks following the structural failures, the MCD launched a massive enforcement drive targeting unauthorised and dangerous buildings. The incident is the latest in a series of building collapses in the Capital, bringing violations of safety norms and administrative lapses back into focus. Their bodies were taken out during an overnight rescue operation. A case was registered at the Seemapuri police station against the owner, Md Anwar. His family members occupied portions of the building, while other residents lived there as well. The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the matter. Officials also shifted blame to one another. A Satya Niketan building tragedy claimed seven lives. The building was being used as a boys’ paying guest (PG) accommodation. The repair work was underway in the basement when the structure gave way. The deceased were identified as Arpit Raj, Akshat Singh Yadav, Yuvraj, Abhishek, Pavan Kumar – students at the PG along with workers Param Lal Kori and Surender Singh. After the incident, the Delhi Police registered a first information report (FIR) and arrested the property owner, Hariram Gupta, his son and the PG operator on charges of criminal negligence and building code violations. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ordered a magisterial inquiry to determine administrative and structural lapses. The report is still pending in the matter, HT has learnt. The MCD Commissioner suspended five municipal officials, including a South Zone Deputy Commissioner and four structural engineers, citing negligence. The MCD issued a city-wide order to seal unauthorised structures exceeding four storeys. Additionally, three-day self-demolition notices were issued to owners of adjacent properties and structures in Satya Niketan that were determined to be in a dangerous condition. The tragedy claimed the lives of five doctors and engineers, along with the owner of the mess where the victims were having dinner. More than eight people were also left injured. The building, originally constructed about eight years prior as a four-storey structure, was undergoing rapid unauthorised expansion. Workers had already completed a 5th floor and were in the middle of constructing a 6th floor when the structure failed. A magisterial inquiry concluded that the disaster was preventable. The police had also alerted the civic body in March to verify whether the construction, including a fifth floor, complied with the sanctioned plan. The subsequent inquiry found that MCD officials failed to monitor and crack down on illegal construction, sat on multiple complaints and failed to enforce building norms. It also flagged retrospective inspection records that were allegedly fabricated to mislead investigators. The report recommended mandatory structural safety audits, risk categorisation of vulnerable buildings, GIS-based mapping, and digital monitoring — measures aimed at preventing authorities from merely identifying dangerous structures without taking action against them. A ground-floor anganwadi (child care centre) was located in the structure but was closed at the time of the collapse. With the building owner dead, the Delhi Police lodged an FIR, but no action was taken.
A look at some of the recent building collapses in Delhi: A 60-year-old man and his son died in a building collapse in northeast Delhi’s Harsh Vihar on October 25. The victims, identified as 60-year-old Chanderpal and his son, 33-year-old Vijay Kumar, were inside an under-construction building when it fell on them. On October 7, four people, including a 21-year-old pregnant woman, died in the collapse of a 25-year-old building in Seemapuri. An MCD spokesperson stated that a preliminary local inquiry revealed the 25-year-old building had developed visible structural cracks following the 4.9-magnitude earthquake tremors felt from Uttarakhand’s Chamoli region the night before. A five-story building, called Hostel Daze, collapsed in Satya Niketan, located near Delhi University’s South Campus on September 6. On May 30, a five-storey commercial building pancaked and fell onto an adjacent building. The building was over 15 years old and suffered from poor construction quality, police had said. Between September and late October, the civic body demolished 47 dangerous buildings and sealed 282 properties across all 12 zones.
Demolition work was underway around the five-storey building when it collapsed, said the police. He was not present at the time of the incident, according to police. DUSIB officials said the land had been allotted for resettlement in the 1980s and that enforcing building safety norms was the corporation’s responsibility While MCD maintained that the building stood in a slum area (Jhuggie Jhopri) on DUSIB land and that the land-owning agency was responsible for preventing illegal construction. The building had already been “booked” by the MCD for violations, yet meaningful enforcement action had not followed.
The family ran a dry-cleaning business. There was no enquiry against the owner as he and his family members were deceased. However, the MCD issued a mandate directing thousands of multi-storey residential and commercial operators to produce Structural Safety Certificates demonstrating that their buildings can safely accommodate habitation. Non-compliant properties are being marked for immediate sealing or demolition
On July 12, 2025, a four-storey residential building collapsed in the northeast Delhi’s Welcome area, leading to six deaths. The six deceased belonged to the same family, and eight others, including a 14-month-old baby, sustained injuries. The deceased were identified as building owner Abdul Matloob (50), his wife Rabia (46), their daughter Zubia (27), and sons Javed (23) and Abdulla (15), along with Fozia.
