16 November,2010 03:15 PM IST | | Amit Singh and Shashank Shekhar
Government departments were trying to shape up for hours, even as victims kept crying out for helpu00a0 after a building collapsed in East Delhi.
At least 66 people are feared dead and over 130 injured in the incident that took place at 8 pm on Monday. Many people are still feared trapped in the rubble.
It's difficult to decipher which one's a greater tragedy - a five-storey building collapsing in a prominent colony in the Capital, or the perfunctory response of Delhi's government agencies in the aftermath.
45 No. of casualties 100 No. of those injured (When reports last came in)
Even two and a half hours after the lives of scores of people came crashing down in Lalita Park area of Laxmi Nagar, various agencies were trying to get their act together. Meanwhile, panic-stricken locals had calmed themselves down enough to rescue several victims from under the debris and take many to nearby hospitals.
"Arrey bhai please koi toh madaat karo ufffdpolice kaha hai ufffdfire ko call karo ufffd(please somebody call the police and fire departments for help). It's already more than an hour and there is no crane and light to help in removing of the debris," shouted Javed Iqbal, a carpenter by profession and a resident of the same area.
While local cops looked on, seemingly helplessly, around 2,000 neighbouring residents poured in and started removing the debris with their bare hands using mobile phone torches to shed some light on the task at hand.
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With the help of some policemen, locals pulled out 10-15 victims who were trapped under the top half of the rubble and sent them to LNJP hospital till 9 pm. Gradually fire tenders were pressed in but they had trouble reaching the spot due to the narrow lanes. Even ambulances were standing in queue waiting for the first one to move as the passage was too cramped.
Thought CATS ambulance were lined up but due to the lack of trained manpower and unavailability of resources they could take only those victims who were pulled out by locals.
It was much later, at around 9 pm, when after reviewing the magnitude of the problem more police force and disaster management teams were called in. At around 10 pm a team of civil defence personnel came to lend a hand. Till then no cranes had arrived to remove the debris. Even the counsellors and ministers who reached the spot were disappointed with the role played by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Local politicians Sandeep Dikshit, AK Walia and Naseeb Singh who reached the spot in a short while were reportedly openly talking about the less than satisfactory performance of NDMA. They themselves made calls after which JCB machines and cranes entered near the spot at around 10:30 pm. Till that time the top floor of the debris had been sifted through and around 50-60 victims had been pulled out.
As VIPs started pouring in a huge team of the Delhi Police reached the spot who then barricaded it with the help of ropes. Joining them much later were National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) who came equipped with a dog squad.
