New Delhi: Having been at the other end of a phone call from a distraught family member sitting far-off, dozens of Delhi University students reached the AIIMS Trauma Centre Sunday evening—photograph in hand, looking for friends who lived in and around Hostel Daze, the six-storey PG accommodation in Satya Niketan that collapsed earlier in the day.
Shivam, a student of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College from Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas, had taken the early-morning train to Delhi. “He told me he would get some rest and then we would book tickets for Mika Singh’s upcoming concert,” said Yuvraj, his classmate.
Yuvraj has not heard back from Shivam since their conversation around 10:30 AM.
“His mother called me in the afternoon to say she last spoke to Shivam around 1 PM but has not been able to reach him since,” Yuvraj told ThePrint. Worried, he rushed to Satya Niketan to check on his friend. But when he reached the spot, all he could see was rubble, ambulances and emergency responders trying to rescue those trapped under the debris.
When he could not reach Shivam’s phone, Yuvraj reached officers of the rescue team who, in turn, asked him to check the hospitals.
“I went to Army Hospital, Safdarjung and AIIMS but no one knows where he is,” said Yuvraj, still waiting for news at the AIIMS Trauma Centre waiting room.
The AIIMS spokesperson has confirmed that, of the 10 people pulled out from under the rubble by Sunday evening, at least four were declared dead on arrival, and one other succumbed to injuries after admission.
While CM Rekha Gupta has ordered a magisterial inquiry, Delhi Police have registered an FIR against building owner Hariram and others under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 290 (negligent construction activity) and 125(a) (act endangering life or personal safety) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Also Read: Collapsed building in Satya Niketan housed 75-bed PG; ‘ground floor was under repair’
‘Hostel Daze is all he could afford’
With AIIMS authorities having restricted movement in the lane separating the hospital building and the waiting centre, students here had been raising a single demand for hours: “Please allow us in.”
Standing amidst a crowd was a student of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma college, looking for his friend Arpit Jaj. “I received a call from his mother around 2 PM that Arpit was in the PG. Since then I have enquired everywhere but have no idea where he is,” said his friend, breaking down into tears.
Jaj, according to his friend, comes from Madhya Pradesh, and a Delhi University education was “more than he could dream”.
“The hospital authorities have shown me pictures of unidentified people but they are all unrecognisable, I can’t understand anything anymore,” said the friend.
At an arm’s distance stood Krish, a student of Motilal Nehru College who came to AIIMS Trauma Centre looking for his childhood friend Abhishekh Kumar, originally from Varanasi. “He used to stay on the fifth floor of Hostel Daze. I had told him so many times to leave that place because of its condition, but that is all he could afford,” said Krish.
He told ThePrint that all the times he visited the PG, he saw its infrastructure falling apart.
“They charged Abhishekh Rs 15,000 for food and stay, and since any other PG would charge more than that he kept staying,” Krish added.
After over four hours of waiting, Krish was told by hospital authorities that Abhishekh was critical and had incurred severe brain injuries. But he has not been able to gather the courage to see his friend in this condition. “They told me that his chances are slim but I can’t see him like this, so I’ll wait till he gets better.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)