Missing family had moved into illegal building 4 days ago
GREATER NOIDA: A day after two buildings collapsed in Greater Noida’s Shahberi village, National Disaster Response Force personnel and local police teams continued to dig through the rubble in search of labourers and members of a family on Wednesday. Eight bodies had already been recovered till Wednesday evening.
Police said the family, which had arrived at the apartment on Saturday, comprised 24-year-old Shiv Kumar Trivedi, his mother, niece and sister-in-law. They hail from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. On Wednesday evening, dead body of Shiv Kumar Trivedi and his three family members were recovered.
“They (Shiv Kumar Trivedi and his family members) were staying in a fourth-floor apartment of the newly constructed building. We have expedited rescue work to search for them as well as other victims who are yet to be identified. We should be able to complete the rescue operation by Thursday morning,” said Prashant Kumar, additional director general of police (Meerut zone).
Trivedi, an operations manager at a Noida company, had completed the formalities for acquiring the apartment in April and shifted there on July 14. His relatives came to attend a get-together of family and friends organised that very day.
“I remember asking Shiv to wait till others had moved into the building too. But he said there was no problem as the structure was strong and approved (by the authorities),” said Neha Senger, a friend residing in Noida.
Senger had attended the get-together, and then returned to visit the family on Saturday. “Shiv’s mother and bhabhi were very proud of him because he had bought this flat, costing ₹22 lakh, at such a young age. His brother was here too, but he left before the incident occurred. I wonder where all these officials, mediapersons and policemen were while the building was being built. This system has killed a family,” she lamented.
Trivedi held an MBA degree from a private institute in Mathura.
It was with horror that Ankit Kumar, who lives in a single-storeyed house next to the collapsed structures, recounted the tragic events from the previous night. “I was sleeping on the terrace of my house when I heard a noise around 10 pm,” he said. “Even as I watched, the semi-constructed building sank a few feet into the ground and collapsed onto the adjacent structure. Then the dust rose, and I could not see anything for a while.”