New Delhi: Delhi has been feeling the effects of several minor earthquakes in the past few months. In such a situation, an important election issue is building safety and illegal construction. But as CNN-IBN found out, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) may not be doing much to address the problem.
More than 70 people died and hundreds were injured when the Lalita Park building came crashing down two years back. The incident occurred because building by-laws were not followed. But the important lesson has still not been learnt.
RTI activist Sanjeev Chaudhary told CNN-IBN that 80 per cent of buildings in Dev Nagar in the posh south Delhi area are illegally constructed.
In east Delhi’s Vinod Nagar too, the situation is the same. Buildings there have developed cracks posing a serious threat to residents.
There is a designated junior engineer from MCD whose job is to ensure that every building constructed in his area follows all building by-laws including and the recommended quality of construction material, but more often than not these officers fail to do their duty.
MCD’s Yogendra Chandolia admitted, “Unfortunately some people get benefits, there is a lot of money involved. I know there is corruption.”
The civic body has swung into action by issuing show cause notices to 127 illegal buildings in east Delhi, but that has happened only in the past five months, which is too early to tell if this is just another ploy ahead of the MCD elections on Sunday.
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