Staircase collapses in Ghaziabad apartment, residents trapped for 10 hours

A portion of the staircase in a residential building in Ghaziabad's Vasundhara collapsed in the early hours of Sunday, around 4:30 am, trapping two families in their flats. No casualties have been reported.

The collapsed staircase connected directly to the main door of the flats, rendering access impossible for residents until help arrived nearly 10 hours later.

Rescue operations were eventually carried out in the morning, freeing the trapped families.

One of the rescued residents expressed concern over the delay in receiving assistance, saying, "There was a delay in getting a fire brigade due to Sunday. But disasters don’t see time." The resident also emphasised the need for clear maintenance guidelines in housing societies like theirs.

The building is a part of a developmental society under Uttar Pradesh's Avas Vikas Yojana and is nearly 30 years old. According to a resident, the flats in the building where the incident occurred were allotted in 2000.

The resident said that since the maintenance charges are too low and are not sufficient to keep society maintained. However, he also alleged that there is no unified mechanism or clearly defined responsibility for the upkeep of society’s infrastructure.

While no injuries occurred, the incident has raised urgent questions about the structural safety and governance of aging residential buildings in the area.

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