New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- Under two separate sets of restrictions - Delhi government's Winter Action Plan and Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) - private construction in the Capital should have been halted in the days leading up to Thursday's deadly building collapse in Chawri Bazar. Yet, according to eyewitnesses and locals, construction was underway at the site in full swing.

The work was only one of several violations at property number 4547-48 in Gali Sheesh Mahal, Ajmeri Gate, where a four-storey structure came up without a sanctioned building plan and allegedly in violation of basic safety norms. The building was never booked for any lapses.

Several locals told HT that construction workers had been working at a rapid pa...