Delhi family mourns deaths of mother and daughter killed in dargah collapse

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) "Had they not taken shelter from the rain there, they would have survived," mourned the family of a mother-daughter duo who lost their lives when a dargah collapsed in Nizamuddin area here.

The family recounted that the mother and daughter had gone to visit a Gurdwara initially, but took shelter in the dargah as it began raining heavily.

A portion of Dargah Sharif Patte Shah near Humayun's Tomb collapsed at around 3.30 pm on Friday, killing seven people. The dargah shares a boundary wall with Mughal emperor Humayun's garden-tomb commissioned by his first wife Bega Begum in 1558.

Frequent visitors to the dargah claimed that despite its care-takers requesting authorities to let them repair the dilapidated structure, this was not allowed, leading to its collapse.

Meena Arora (56) and her daughter Monu Arora (25), residents of Vasant Kunj Enclave, lost their lives in the incident. The pain of loss is unbearable, said their family, demanding urgent government action to prevent such incidents in future.

Meena's sister wept inconsolably. "Nothing is left for us. Tell the government to not let such incidents happen. What will we do now? Everything has been washed away," she told PTI.

Her husband Mukesh Kumar Arora recounted how a routine visit to Gurdwara turned into tragedy. "Around 2.30 pm, they went to Gurdwara Damdama Sahib. It was raining heavily, they must have taken shelter in the dargah located nearby." The news about the incident reached through television first, he said.

"Then police officers informed us about the accident, leaving us all devastated. I have lost my wife and my young daughter," Mukesh said.

Meena's neighbour described the shock of losing someone he had spoken to just hours ago. "This is a tragic incident. They were really nice people. In fact, I met Meena before she left for the Gurdwara. She even gave me money to hand over to the water tanker suppliers," the neighbour told PTI.

He said the incident was a lapse on part of the authorities. "In the last few days, many such cases have been reported in Delhi. We demand that the government fix the city's infrastructure so that such incidents won't repeat," he said.

For Harish Chand, son of Swaroop Chand (79), the phone call that turned his world upside down came from his father's own number.

"Someone called us from my father's phone to inform us of the incident. My mother had gone with him but fortunately, she sustained only minor injuries. My father took my mother to the dargah, I don't know why they went there," Harish said.

Devotees and locals claimed the tragedy could have been averted if the authorities had acted on long-standing requests to repair the structure.

Salim Abbas, a devotee who has been visiting the shrine for over three decades, blamed official apathy. "The responsibility lies with the authorities, who did not allow repairs despite repeated requests from the dargah people. The rooms are very old. This place dates back to the time of Nizamuddin Auliya," he said.

A senior police officer said that a case under Section 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings), 125 (acts that endanger human life or personal safety), and 106 (causing death by negligence) has been registered against unknown people. PTI SSJ RUK RUK