A four-storey under-construction building collapsed early on Thursday in Gurugram’s Ullawas village trapping as many as 20 people, police said, as rescue workers searched for those feared stuck in the rubble.
Rescuers from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Border Security Force (BSF) were trying to clear the debris with the help of bulldozers and look for survivors, officials said.
“The building belongs to a person named Dayaram. Around 20 people, mostly security guards employed and deployed in the nearby sectors were living there on rent,” a senior police officer said, according to news agency IANS. The building was almost complete except for some portion on the fourth floor, the officer said.
“State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Border Security Force (BSF), from its nearby base camp in here, has reached and the National Disaster Response Force’s (NDRF) help has also been sought,” the official added.
Some people living in the vicinity said the building was constructed without permission.
“The owner of the building has been traced. The cause of the building collapse can be ascertained only after investigation,” Gurugram’s deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said.
The city’s sub-divisional magistrate Sanjeev Singla said that the building was unstable and being built without any technical expertise. Building collapses are common in India, where unscrupulous builders and officials often dodge codes or overlook the need to renovate old ones.