00:00So seven lives have been lost. Five were Delhi University students. Their dreams have now been buried under the rubble.
00:08Arpit Jaj, he was 17 years old from Madhya Pradesh, Devas. He studied at the Atmaram Sanatandharm College in Delhi
00:17University's South Campus.
00:19He had returned from Raksha Bandhan holiday on 5th of September and on 6th of September is when the tragedy
00:25unfolded and he unfortunately lost his life.
00:28Akshat Yadav, 18-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, Skatni. He studied at PGDAV College in the South Campus and he
00:36was also pulled out dead from the rubble.
00:40Yuvrad Soni, 20-year-old from Chhattisgarh's Durk district. He studied at the Motilal Nehru College and he also lost
00:47his life in this deadly collapse.
00:50Abhishek Kumar, 20-year-old from Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra district. He studied at the Motilal Nehru College and he also
00:58perished in this deadly collapse.
01:01Pawan Kumar, 17-year-old from Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district. He was also a student at Motilal Nehru College and
01:08he was also crushed to death in this Satana Ketan deadly collapse on 6th of September.
01:19So Delhi has seen a string of deadly incidents in recent months from the Satana Ketan PG collapse to the
01:25Rajinder Nagar Coaching Centre tragedy, Malvinagar fire and an open drain death.
01:29Different tragedies but one recurring question. Were basic safety norms ignored and could these deaths have been prevented?
01:58Delhi is once again confronting a disturbing question.
02:05How much is human life worth when basic safety rules are ignored?
02:09The PG hostel collapse, which claimed at least seven lives, has brought the city's unsafe student housing ecosystem under the
02:18scanner.
02:41But this is not just about one building.
02:43Across Delhi, thousands of students come for coaching, competitive exams and higher education.
02:53They live in cramped PG's, rented rooms and converted buildings.
03:00And the question becomes even more disturbing when viewed alongside other recent tragedies.
03:10In Delhi's Rajinder Nagar, a basement tragedy in July 2024 at a coaching centre raised a chilling question.
03:22How did a space meant for access and utility become a death trap for students?
03:29Three civil service aspirants lost their lives after rainwater flooded the basement of the coaching centre.
03:37The tragedy exposed a deadly combination.
03:41Heavy rain, water accumulation, a basement with just one escape route.
03:52Months ago, Delhi saw a devastating fire which killed at least 23 at a bread and breakfast joint with multiple
04:00regulatory and safety rules.
04:07The property permitted for just six rooms under the B&B scheme was running 25-plus rooms.
04:16Investigators also found serious fire safety and licensing irregularities with a blocked fire safety exit.
04:26In Jasola, one image captured the human cost of civic apathy.
04:32A father digging through piles of garbage with his bare hands.
04:36Searching for his 15-year-old son who fell into an open drain.
04:41A father forced to search through Delhi's filth for his child.
04:48Delhi is the national capital.
04:50It has rules, regulators and enforcement agencies.
04:55What it keeps missing is accountability.
04:58Because here, safety warnings seem to matter only after they become obituaries.
05:05A building collapses, a basement floods, a drain swallows a child, a fire kills.
05:13And only then does the system wake up.
05:16This is the national capital of India.
05:19Yet too often, it takes a body count for basic safety to become a priority.
05:26Bureau Report, India Today.
