Sonia Gandhi meets East Delhi building collapse victims

NEW DELHI - Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met survivors and relatives of those killed in the four-storey building that collapsed in East Delhi’s Lakshminagar area last night.

Gandhi offered sympathy to the injured and their family members at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narayan Hospital, where 28 of the 130 wounded have been admitted.

Earlier, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who visited the site of the four-storey building that collapsed in East Delhi, said that strict action would be taken against those found guilty for the incident.

Dikshit said people have been evacuated and the area would be surveyed to pinpoint more such houses that have weak foundations and have to be vacated.

“The identification process is being done. We have put the list. We are giving double the compensation. Injured people are being treated in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospital. People living in the nearby buildings have been evacuated,” said Dikshit.

“There should be a survey, and a magisterial inquiry should been done. There will be some results to it. The builder is absconding and will be caught soon. He will be punished severely so that no such incidents occur in the future,” she added.

Lieutenant Governor said: “As far as the safety issue is concerned, it will be time-bound now. This has been discussed a lot before with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and, they should give importance to such matters, and even the building department. And, along these lines the inquiry will take place. They have agreed to my suggestions.

The four-storey building that collapsed in East Delhi’s Lakshminagar area on Monday night has claimed 66 lives so far and left over 130 others injured. (ANI)