GURGAON: Hariram Bansal, who has been identified as the alleged owner of the building that collapsed in Delhi’s Satya Niketan, has been living in the area for several years and owns multiple properties in Gurgaon, according to news agency ANI.Speaking to the media, SP Sharma, a neighbour of Hariram Bansal said, “Bansal Ji’s shop is in the market—our relationship is simply that we occasionally buy goods from his store; he has a decent personality. He has been living here for years. He owns several other houses here as well; his daughter and son also live nearby in Sector 23.”“He owns a hardware shop. I have no idea about Delhi; I don’t know if he owns a house in Satya Niketan or anything like that, but he does have four or five properties here,” he further said.Bansal, the alleged owner of the building, was arrested in Bhiwadi, Delhi Police said on Monday.Meanwhile, Delhi Police said 12 people had been rescued from the site of the Satya Niketan building collapse, while seven people had died. Police said another person was subsequently pulled out of the debris, taking the total number of people rescued to 12.The incident also led to protests by students affiliated with the NSUI and ABVP, who called for accountability and immediate steps to improve student safety.Jhanvi Kataria, a candidate in the DUSU 2026 elections, demanded the construction of hostels for students. She said the government should cover students’ PG and flat rents until land is allotted for hostel construction.Jhanvi Kataria also pointed out that a similar incident had taken place at the same location three years ago and said sufficient preventive measures should have been implemented to avoid another tragedy.Speaking to the media, Jhanvi Kataria, said, “Our simple demand is that hostels should be built for the children, and until land is allocated for those hostels, we want the government to pay for their PG and flat rents. The day before yesterday, on Teachers’ Day, PM Modi went to SRCC to give a speech, and forces were deployed for him at various places. I mean, I was personally present at the North Campus that day. So many forces were deployed there; if even 50% of them were present here. More than 11 children could have been pulled out by now. This rescue operation is about to complete 24 hours, but even now, all the children have not been pulled out from under the debris.”“I was personally so disheartened to see how this matter has been politicised… Our simple demand is that what happened today… a similar incident happened 3 years ago too, at this very place. Even after that, no precautions were taken. We want that what happened today, and what happened before, should not happen to any of our younger brothers and sisters again,” she further said.Congress leader Srinivas BV alleged that the government was slow to respond to the collapse and claimed that government teams took three hours to reach the site. He also alleged that NSUI members helped with rescue efforts before the official teams arrived.“It took the government three whole hours to arrive. Among the vehicles present, the Blinkit ambulance was the first to reach the spot; where was the government ambulance?… The NSUI President and his team… were the ones who worked to save lives before the official rescue team even arrived. But what is the government doing? They boast about their ‘double-engine’ government and talk big about GDP figures… Their PM, their CM, their BJP MP, their BJP Mayor, their BJP Councillor – it has been the BJP in power for the last 15 years... There is no regard for the innocent lives lost; this could even be termed murder,” Srinivas said.
