New Delhi: Barely wide enough for two persons to pass each other, the cramped lanes of Sheesh Mahal Gali in Old Delhi’s Chawri Bazar turned the rescue operation at a collapsed building site Thursday into a painstakingly manual exercise.As Delhi Police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Delhi Fire Service and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) personnel continued the search, the narrow access routes, poor natural light and lack of space to move debris emerged as major obstacles.With heavy machinery, including excavators and backhoe loaders, unable to enter the 2.5ft-wide lane, rescue teams had to rely on smaller equipment, manually breaking through chunks of concrete and carrying debris out piece by piece. Gas cutters, chipping hammers and smaller cutting machines were being used to break large chunks of concrete and other construction material.“Heavy machinery cannot enter the site. This is making it difficult to speed up the rescue operation. They cannot even enter the main street,” a rescue official said. An NDRF official also said the entire operation was being carried out manually, significantly slowing down the process.The four-storey under-construction building collapsed Thursday morning, killing two labourers and injuring two, while leaving several others feared trapped under the rubble. An adjacent new building, where construction started in May, was partially demolished to create an access point for rescuers. However, even this did little to ease the logistical challenges posed by the densely packed locality.A rescue official said the inner lanes were barely 2.5 feet wide, making movement difficult even for personnel working on foot. “Two people cannot even cross each other properly in the lane,” he said.Rescuers also faced difficulties in removing debris from the site. Since vehicles could not enter the narrow lanes, rubble clearance was slow, delaying access to deeper sections of the collapsed structure.Fading daylight made matters worse. With buildings standing close together, little natural light reaches the area even during the day. MCD has been asked to arrange streetlights and floodlights to allow the operation to continue after sunset, said a rescuer.Meanwhile, police tried to push large crowds of onlookers from the inner lanes to give rescue workers room to operate. However, a large crowd continued to gather outside the site, with many trying to film the operation or just watch the teams at work.With several people still feared trapped, rescue personnel were preparing for a prolonged operation. An NDRF official said the search and debris-clearance work could continue through the night.
