Fear grips residents of Sawan Park after building collapse kills 7

People residing in Sawan Park in northwest Delhi's Ashok Vihar were in a state of fear after a five-storey building collapsed on Wednesday killing seven people, including four children.

Everyone was blaming Dharmender, the owner of the building, for not paying attention towards the building, which was in a dilapidated condition and had developed cracks.

The locals alleged that around two months ago, a complaint regarding the poor condition of the building was raised with the authorities concerned as they felt unsafe to reside there.

However, the authorities concerned said they did not receive any such complaint.

Ankit Goyal, who lives in the locality, said that it felt like an earthquake had struck when the building collapsed.

"We immediately rushed to help the victims. The police and civic officials came several times and asked the residents to leave the building," he claimed.

Another resident said the adjacent building is also weak and might also see the same fate.

"The next building may also come down in the next few days as the condition of the building is bad. We had urged the residents of the ill-fated building ample number of times to vacate it as soon as possible," said Anup Kumar, who lives nearby.

When the building collapsed, the locals started the rescue operation before the NDRF and police reached the spot.

Anup further stated that there was only one police official with them during the rescue operation.

Jhirkan, who used to run a food stall in front of the building, was outside the building at the time of the incident. His daughter said he had left for his stall in the morning.

"There is a building in the area which is in a pathetic state and has a mobile network tower on terrace. The residents of that building are also worried about their lives," another local alleged.

The locals alleged that most of the buildings have tenants and the owners live somewhere else and they are more or less in same state.