Greater Noida: Shiv Kumar Trivedi had finally bought his own house, a dream he pursued for years, and moved in three days ago. He had spoken to his father over the phone to say all was well with his family — barely two hours before the building came crashing down on Tuesday.The body of Shiv Kumar, the Delhi branch manager of Kotla Mubarakpur-based Easy Care Integrated Solutions Private Limited, was brought out from under the rubble on Wednesday evening. His sister-in-law Priyanka, mother Raj Kumari, and 18-month-old niece Pankhuri were also dead.Shiv’s father Surendra Kumar Trivedi was inconsolable as the bodies of his son and other relatives were fished out one by one. “I, too, was there with my family till the 13th in the same house. But I left after the pandit fixed the auspicious time for griha pravesh (house warming ceremony). My son had shifted on the 14th. I spoke to him around 8pm on Tuesday. He was very happy and told me everything was fine with them,” Surendra Kumar said.The Trivedis got to know about the building collapse from TV. Shiv’s father realised it was his son’s new house that had caved in when he saw some familiar faces on the TV screen frantically looking for their loved ones in the rubble. Shiv Kumar’s brother Ram told TOI he called up neighbours in the village and his worst fears came true. Ram and his father Surendra Kumar rushed to the site along with a few collegues of Shiv. Shiv, who was unmarried, was supposed to live in the house with a friend. His mother, sister-in-law and her daughter were in the house to help Shiv with some household chores.A colleague present at the cave-in site said Shiv was very happy he had managed to buy a house with his own income. “The building had been newly-built when we spoke to the contractor, Qasim. They showed us the documents and we got it registered in March itself,” Surendra said.The family said the cost of the flat was about Rs 23 lakh and it was financed through a loan from a private agency. “Only a part of the amount was paid in cash. The rest was financed through a loan in the name of Shiv and his mother Raj Kumari. The finance company easily provided the loan,” he said. The documents, including the deed of the flat, were apparently verified at the Dadri tehsil. “The documents were checked at the tehsil after which, the deed was sealed. We thought everything was fine,” Surendra said.Sources said it was the relatively low cost of flats in the area that attracted more buyers. Since the houses fetched low profits, they were built with sub-standard materials, they added.“Everybody can’t afford a flat worth crores in NCR. We are forced to move in to such flats as this area provides cheaper ones. Do we have a choice?” asked a resident of Shahberi.Shiv’s brother pointed out the house would tremble every time a heavy vehicle passed the area. “We had told the contractor many times not to bring trucks in the narrow lane leading to the building,” he said.Surendra accused the authorities of turning a blind eye to constructions with inferior quality materials. “How can such buildings come up in the first place? Does nobody check what tehsildars do? We have lost everything,” he sobbed.

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