10-month-old baby among 13 stuck in Noida high-rise lift; residents blame builder

Five children, including a 10-month-old baby, were among 13 people stuck in a lift at a Noida high-rise after it stopped working for half an hour. The residents blamed the builder for the poor upkeep of the amenities in the housing society.

A 10-month-old baby and four other children were among 13 people who got stuck in a lift at a Noida highrise on Saturday after it stopped working for nearly half an hour.

Residents of Sunshine Helios in Sector 78, alleged poor upkeep of the society by the builder, reported The Times of India.

As many as 300 of the 406 flats in the housing campus are currently occupied. Speaking about the incident, the residents said that one of the two lifts in Tower E had stopped working for around 30 minutes around 8:30 pm on Saturday. “The other has been out of service for over a fortnight,” a resident said on Monday.

“The situation was scary. As the elevator stopped, the fan kept working. However, the lights started flickering which scared the kids who started crying. It took the electrician around 30 minutes to bring the lift to the second floor. The stranded people had to jump a few feet to get to safety,” another resident said. The five children were from the same family. While the youngest was only a toddler, the eldest was just 10 years old.

Another controversy later broke out after bouncers allegedly hired by the builder allegedly thrashed the residents for protesting the poor maintenance on Sunday. They were booked by the cops. The residents have been demanding that the maintenance operation of the society, which was completed in April 2018, be handed over to the Apartment Owners’ Association (AOA) by the builder.

Col (retd) GS Sidhu, a resident who was allegedly hit by one of the bouncers, said the builder was violating an Allahabad High Court order by not handing over the society’s maintenance to the AOA. “The builder and his team called the bouncers while we were protesting. The bouncers started assaulting people and 4-5 of us were injured. We have been living here for years, so we know who the outsiders are and who are part of the security team. Later, the police intervened and the bouncers ran away,” he said.

Police said they have booked seven unidentified people. Sharad Kant, SHO at the Sector 113 police station, said: “We have registered a case against seven unknown miscreants under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 147 (punishment for rioting) of the IPC. We are looking at the CCTV footage and videos of the incident to identify the accused. Further investigation is underway.”