Building tilts in Shahberi, five families evacuated

RESIDENTS SAID THEY NOTICED CRACKS IN THE PILLARS OF THE FIVESTOREY BUILDING IN JYOTI ENCLAVE OF SHAHBERI VILLAGE ON SUNDAY MORNING

GREATER NOIDA: A five-storey building in Greater Noida’s Shahberi village started tilting after it developed cracks on Sunday afternoon, triggering panic among residents. The incident comes around two weeks after a twin building collapse in the village that resulted in the deaths of nine people.

Residents said they noticed cracks in the pillars of the fivestorey building in Jyoti Enclave of Shahberi village on Sunday morning, after which the building “started tilting”. There were five families residing in the building at the moment.

“We received information that a building had tilted in the afternoon, which created panic among residents. A team was dispatched i mmediately to check the situation. We have evacuated the five families staying in the building. We have also requested families staying in two buildings nearby to evacu- ate as soon as possible. The situation is under control now,” said Avnish Kumar, circle officer, Greater Noida 3.

Kumar said a team had been sent to inspect damage to the building.

“A few pillars had developed cracks which might have resulted in the building getting tilted to one side. A team of Greater Noida Authority is present on the site to examine the damage to the building. We have not been able to ascertain the builder group of the building. No case has been registered yet as our probe is going on,” added Kumar.

In a separate incident, the police evacuated an under-construction building in Chipiyana Bujurg village neighbouring Shahberi on Saturday night after residents complained that the building had developed cracks. “Two families were staying in the five-storey underconstruction building in Chipiyana Bujurg village and we requested them to move out as soon as possible,” said Akhilesh Tripathi, station house officer.

“We have sent a team to examine the cracks developed in both the buildings. We are collecting evidences for our report,” said an official of Greater Noida Authority.

The incident comes 12 days after two buildings collapsed in Shahberi resulting in the death of nine persons including a minor girl.

The police had i nitially booked 24 persons including builders for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. A week later, police registered three first information reports and booked 74 people.