48-year-old woman dies after under-construction building wall collapses in Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh: A 48-year-old woman, Salma Begum, died at Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) on Saturday, two days after a wall of an under-construction five-storey building in Loharpatty collapsed on her house.

According to residents, a large portion of the building’s wall crashed onto Begum’s home while she was cooking in her kitchen on Thursday. The debris critically injured her, and she was rushed to AMCH, where she succumbed to her injuries after two days of treatment.

Locals alleged that the building’s owner, Yunis Khan, had been constructing the structure illegally without approval from the Dibrugarh Municipal Corporation (DMC). They claimed that despite the congested area, the construction continued without safety measures, barricading, or regard for nearby households. Residents also said falling debris from the site had become a routine threat, and Thursday’s collapse was “an accident waiting to happen.”

Following the incident, the DMC and the District Administration sealed the building and ordered its immediate demolition, calling it a “death trap” that violated safety and planning norms.

Residents further accused a DMC engineer, who has previously faced corruption allegations of enabling the construction through tacit support. They questioned how the building continued to rise despite lacking mandatory permissions and oversight.

“We demand a thorough inquiry. Without permission, how did the owner construct a five-storey building? There has been a serious lapse by DMC officials. Who is responsible for this death?” a resident asked.

The incident comes at a time when Dibrugarh, recently upgraded to a Municipal Corporation, has reportedly seen a spike in illegal constructions across several localities, raising concerns over weak monitoring and regulatory failures.