45-yr-old man killed as 3 buildings collapse

{ NEAR DELHI METRO SITE

- Karn Pratap Singh

A 45-year-old man died early on Friday when three ageing multi-storey commercial buildings collapsed near a Delhi Metro tunneling site in Azad Market, north Delhi.

The incident occurred around 2am in Pul Mithai—within the “influence zone” of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)’s Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg corridor tunneling project.

DMRC announced an ex-gratia compensation of ₹5 lakh for the victim's family and said it had written to the owners of the buildings before tunnelling work started, declaring the structures unsafe and requesting evacuation.

The buildings—two four-storey structures and one with three floors—were around 30 years old and housed shops and godowns dealing in bags and canvas fabric. Though about 25 people usually worked across the three buildings—numbered 5A, 6A, and 7A—only one person was inside at the time of the collapse, police said, as the incident occurred after usual business hours (10am to 8pm). A truck parked outside was also crushed under debris.