Ranit Kr. Singh , New Delhi — A heroic canteen owner lost her life while saving dozens of students when a three-storey commercial building collapsed near the Saket Metro station in south Delhi on Saturday evening. The disaster, which claimed a total of four lives, occurred on Western Marg in the Saidulajab area. The structure—housing a coaching institute, offices, and cafes—reduced to rubble, with heavy debris crashing directly onto an adjacent tin-roofed eatery. The catastrophic failure was reportedly triggered by ongoing construction work on the building's upper floor, according to initial police investigations.
The eatery’s owner, Parvati Ojha, a Nepal-born woman in her early 50s, died a hero after rushing back inside the shaking structure to alert her customers. Having escaped to safety with her brother-in-law moments earlier, Ojha realized that 20 to 25 competitive exam aspirants inside could not hear the external chaos over the loud hum of two running coolers. While her frantic warnings allowed numerous students to scramble to safety, she became trapped under the falling wreckage. Rescue teams pulled several injured survivors from the rubble through Sunday before recovering Ojha’s body and three other fatalities.
The tragedy has shattered the local student community, for whom Ojha had been a parental figure for over two decades. Her small canteen was a vital hub for outstation candidates preparing for intense medical and engineering entrance exams like NEET, GATE, and FMGE. Dozens of grieving students gathered at the accident site and the AIIMS Trauma Centre to mourn "Aunty," remembering her unmatched generosity, her ₹20 thalis, and her habit of quietly feeding cash-strapped students for free.
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