Satya Niketan case: Operator's other PGs also rife with lapses
New Delhi, Sept. 11 -- Two buildings run by the same company that managed an ill-fated structure in Satya Niketan, which collapsed and killed seven people earlier this week, showed multiple fire and building code violations similar to those pointed out by magisterial inquiries in previous tragedies, HT has found.
The violations included single entry and exit points, a lack of fire extinguishers, narrow staircases, obstructed corridors, encroached entrances and locked terrace gates.
Police say that Hostel Daze, the company that ran the five-storey building housing Delhi University students that crumpled on Sunday afternoon, managed seven establishments in the area. HT visited five of these facilities on Wednesday and found violations in at least two of them.
Both properties still housed student tenants. Students and staffers also said that the owners had locked some properties, taken down Hostel Daze boards, or asked tenants to vacate.
Hostel Daze operator, Sudhanshu Lovneesh, was arrested on Wednesday and his partner Shubham Tyagi is on the run.
"The warden has left, Sudhanshu has been arrested, and no one is taking our calls. Two of us pay Rs.34,000 for this tiny room with no window. The norm here has been to lock the building from outside every night. I am scared," said a third-year DU student staying at one of the properties.
The first Hostel Daze facility HT visited was in Moti Bagh II, opposite the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus metro station. It was a five-storey building with the ground floor rented to food shops - the same as the structure that collapsed. The other four floors had five rooms each and a total occupancy of 40. "Most of the children ran away after the incident. Even the warden has left. I don't know what will happen with this building. This is also an old building," said a staffer on the condition of anonymity.
There was only a single entry/exit point. On two other sides of the building, there were iron gates, dangling wires and no space. There were 6-10 students living there.
Second PG had narrow staircase, sealed back exit
The second Hostel Daze facility that HT visited was close to south Moti Bagh. It was a five-storey building and had an occupancy of at least 32 students and the rent per room was Rs.34,000, split between two people. The staircase was narrow.
A second-year DU student said, "Our warden ran off. Another warden told us that we all should leave and start looking for other places."...
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