New Delhi: Two hundred thirty-nine lives were lost in the city to preventable accidents and disasters between Jan 2024 and Dec 2025, exposing gaps in govt and urban safety infrastructure.Eight-nine people drowned in the city during this period, according to data recently shared by the revenue department with Delhi assembly. The deaths were not limited to accidents in the Yamuna or canals, but also involved open drains, uncovered sewers and pits, unfenced waterbodies, waterlogged underpasses and flooded streets as civic lapses turned routine monsoons into killers.Fifty-three lives were lost to blazes, mostly owing to poor fire-safety enforcement, including two at a restaurant in INA Market on July 24, 2024. Many fires were reported from houses as well. Another 46 people were killed in building collapses, mostly following showers, pointing to the failure of govt and Municipal Corporation of Delhi to rein in unauthorised constructions. A four-storey unsanctioned structure collapsed in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad on April 19, 2025, killing 11 people, including 4 children, and injuring 11 others. Narrow lanes hampered rescue efforts in the congested area. Authorities later found out that the building violated load-bearing norms.The overall toll also includes 48 deaths in natural and man-made disasters, including some involving electrocution, falling trees and uncovered manholes.These accidents took place under both AAP and BJP govts, and the pattern is alarming. Unmaintained drains, illegal constructions, unchecked encroachments and lax fire safety enforcement persist to this day, resulting in these preventable deaths. Systemic fixes like mandatory audits, keeping a tab on unauthorised constructions and monsoon readiness are yet not in place uniformly across the capital.Last May, Delhi govt said it would set up a State Disaster Response Force on the lines of National Disaster Response Force to tackle exigencies, but nothing has materialised yet.
