Gurugram: 35 Chintels Paradiso families became homeless overnight

GURUGRAM: Vijay Mahanoori, a resident of the first floor of Tower D of Paradiso, whose flat shares a wall with Arun Srivastava’s, is filled with fear and anger. Around 35 families with houses in other floors of Tower D spent the night at friends’, neighbours’ or relatives’ homes as the tower was sealed. With not even a change of clothes with them, they said they have become refugees overnight.

None of them knows when they can return to their homes again. “Just a wall separates our homes, and it could have very well been me trapped under the rubble. I have always felt safe at home, but that won’t be the case ever again,” Mahanoori said.

Hem Mishra’s wife was home with their two kids in their fifth-floor flat when the incident took place. “We have become refugees overnight. We don’t even have warm clothes. I have no idea what to do and where to go. I have never faced such a situation in my life. While everyone in our society has been helpful, offering us food and shelter, how long can this go on?”

Shweta Shrivastava, who lives on the sixth floor — where the collapse started — said ten minutes before the floor caved in, she heard a commotion.

“Around 10 minutes before the collapse occurred, I saw some labourers working in the flat fleeing. I could hear them say some cracks had appeared. Had they alerted those living in the flats below, they wouldn’t have died.”

Pankaj Gupta, who lives on the ninth floor, said, “Even though I was not inside when the floors came crumbling down, it has come as a rude jolt for me. I don’t know how many days, weeks, or months it will take before I can enter my own home once again. The toll could have been much higher had the family living on the fifth floor not left for Dehradun, just an hour before the floor right above them collapsed.”

“Even the shawl that I am wearing has been borrowed from a neighbour. I am too scared to enter my own home now,” said Pooja Aggarwal, another resident of the tower.

Devender Kumar, who lives in the same tower, added: “Our safety has been compromised. None of us feel safe to live here anymore. But where do we go?”

The residents are now waiting for Srivastava’s sons — Ankit and Shobhit — to return from the US, where they live, so that they can file another police complaint.

Meanwhile, late on Friday night, the district administration allowed a few residents to enter their flats for essentials like warm clothes and car keys. They will be staying in vacant flats in other towers for the time being.