&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "The Verdict | Satya Niketan building collapse wasn’t an accident. It was a failure of governance")
Stop calling the Satya Niketan building collapse an 'accident.' Call it human greed. Shame on every corrupt official, politician and owner whose corruption and negligence have led to students losing their lives. This tragedy was waiting to happen, and let me warn you - it can happen at many other places in Delhi.
For those of you who have grown up in Delhi, or studied in South Campus colleges, you would know how cramped Satya Niketan has always been.
For more than 15 years, Satya Niketan has been a chaotic mix of illegal expansion, hanging wires, and narrow lanes.
I have three questions today.
My first question tonight is to the MCD: how did you let house owners construct illegally?
In most cases, there is no on-paper record of approvals. How are building after building allowed to expand, wall-to-wall, without any adherence to the law?
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What, and up to which rank, is corruption happening?
My second question is to every political party that has governed Delhi so far: why did you not stop illegal violations in Satya Niketan, which were happening right under your nose?
When you ruled Delhi, what were you doing?
This has not happened suddenly. It has been allowed to happen. So if you are questioning, question yourselves too. Successive governments, for decades, have promised action against illegal construction. Notices are issued. Yet unauthorised construction continues across the city.
And my third and final question is to the owners of these houses: when will your greed for money end?
For some extra rent, you put students' lives in danger and break rule after rule.
Unfortunately, in Delhi, enforcement often begins after the body bags come out, as they are now.
Could this have been prevented? Yes, entirely.
What's the solution now? Clean the local civic agencies of corrupt officials irrespective of rank, tighten the noose around local netas, audit every structure in Delhi and follow the rules laid out.
The Satya Niketan tragedy is a heart-wrenching example of failed governance, corruption and negligence. We are sitting on a ticking time bomb, and preventive action needs to be taken from this very second.
