'Misleading': Govt fact checks Dipke's claim that ‘a hostel in DU South Campus has collapsed’

“Several social media posts are claiming that a hostel building in Delhi University’s South Campus has collapsed. This claim is #Misleading,” the PIB said.

The government on Sunday fact-checked social media posts claiming a hostel in Delhi University's South Campus has collapsed, highlighting a post made by Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and two others, as “misleading”. This came after a multi-storey PG building in Delhi's Satya Niketan area collapsed on Sunday afternoon, killing at least five people and leaving at least 40 persons trapped under rubble.

The Press Information Bureau (PIB), in a fact-check post on X, said, “Several social media posts are claiming that a hostel building in Delhi University’s South Campus has collapsed. This claim is #Misleading.”

“The building that collapsed was a private paying guest (PG) accommodation in Satya Niketan, South-West Delhi, located near Delhi University’s South Campus,” the PIB added, clarifying that the building was not a hostel belonging to the Delhi University's South Campus. The PIB urged users to “verify claims through reliable and official sources before believing or sharing them”.

Also Read | SOS video from under debris: Student trapped in collapsed Delhi boys’ PG building reaches out to friend

What did Abhijeet Dipke's post say?

Reacting to the building collapse, Dipke questioned the state of educational infrastructure, asking, “Will the PM visit DU again and explain how did this happen?”

In his post, the CJP convenor claimed “a hostel building in South Campus has collapsed, with students feared trapped under the debris.” “Yesterday, the PM visited DU, gave a political speech and even invoked the term “Dimagi Naxal,” while speaking very little about the state of our educational infrastructure," Dipke said.

"For how long will students in this country have to pay the price for failing infrastructure and neglect?" Dipke asked, adding, "Adivasi students are dying in tribal belts due to a lack of care and support, and even students studying in the national capital are not safe." Dipke concluded his reaction by asking, “Will the PM visit DU again and explain how did this happen?”

Also Read | 'The walls were cracking': Student who lived in collapsed Delhi boys’ PG recalls state of building

What do we know about the incident?

Teams from the DDMA, NDRF, Delhi Fire Services, Delhi Police, MCD, CTS and Civil Defence have been deployed at the site of the collapse, with Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta saying rescue and emergency operations are underway on “war footing.”

Around 11 students were rescued from under the rubble till the time of writing of this report, and admitted to nearby hospitals. Two of the students, admitted to the AIIMS trauma centre, are in a critical state, the hospital said. Police said that a PCR call regarding the incident was received at South Campus Police Station at around 1:34pm.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Amit Goel said an FIR has been registered against the building owner Hariram and others under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings), and 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the South Campus police station. The DCP said renovation work was underway on the ground floor, which led to collapse of the building.

Locals have blamed repair work and water accumulation in the basement for the collapse of the structure, while the MCD said it could not verify whether work was underway until the debris was cleared.

According to officials, the MCD has evacuated tenants from the building housing a girls' PG adjoining the collapsed building and sealed it. The five-storey structure, which housed a boys' hostel, was a nearly 30-year-old G 4 building constructed on an area of around 55 square yards in a resettlement colony where permission was granted only for a G 1 unit, a senior MCD official said.

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