India, Sept. 11 -- Police flagged safety concerns, mainly fire risks, about buildings in Satya Niketan around three months before a multi-storey hostel collapsed in the South Delhi locality last Sunday, killing seven people, mostly students.

The warning came after inspections were carried out in the wake of yet another fatal incident that exposed regulatory deficiencies, gaps in enforcement and general civic apathy in the Capital-a fire that ripped through a bed and breakfast in Hauz Rani, killing 23 people. That the warning appears to have gone unheeded illustrates how the response to such tragedies in Delhi falls calamitously short of meaningful change after following a now-familiar script of inspections, inquiries, lists of violations...