Overview
- Roughly 10–15 families were evacuated overnight after major cracks appeared in a six‑storey residential building in the Chalaunthi area, with a nearby hotel and another building also cleared.
- Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap formed a committee led by the SDM to assess damage within a week, while a geologist team began a separate evaluation.
- The district administration halted construction at the four‑lane tunnel site, and police diverted traffic by closing the Dhalli–Sanjauli bypass to heavy vehicles, causing citywide congestion.
- Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh publicly blamed the NHAI for the situation and ordered that blasting not continue at the tunnel project.
- Residents reported loud nighttime blasts and ground subsidence before the cracks, and unions alleged ‘unscientific’ tunnelling practices, citing earlier cave‑ins and a 2025 building collapse linked locally to the project.