Welcome building collapse: Delhi agencies shirk responsibility in unauthorised colony

According to civicofficials at the spot, the unauthorised colony with “illegal structures” has an active water and electricity supply, and working sewer lines

The building collapse in northeast Delhi’s Welcome on Saturday morning that claimed the lives of six people and injured eight others raised questions about why unauthorised construction in the area was not regulated, but the city’s civic agencies ducked the issue yet again.

As rescue operations began at Janata Colony, officials on the site first contacted the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), assuming that the area felt under its jurisdiction (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

As rescue operations began at Janata Colony, officials on the site first contacted the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), assuming that the area felt under its jurisdiction. However, MCD denied responsibility, but said that since the area was part of a slum cluster, it could have been managed by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).

“The area where the collapse occurred falls under the jurisdiction of DUSIB and it regulates construction activities. We have sent rescue teams at the spot...,” said an MCD official, asking not to be named.

When contacted, DUSIB officials also denied responsibility, stating that only temporary sewers were constructed by its team, as the area was part of a slum cluster. It then further passed the buck onto the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

“The colony is on the land owned by DDA, as per our records, and the construction is regulated by MCD under its building bylaws. We have only created a temporary sewer line, which is our mandate for slum areas. We have also submitted a preliminary report to the government,” said a DUSIB official, who did not want to be named.

DDA, meanwhile, did not respond to HT’s queries. However, some agency officials acknowledged that the land belongs to DDA.

While labour minister Kapil Mishra reached the spot and ordered a probe in the matter, it still seemed unclear as to which authority should be held responsible.

According to civicofficials at the spot, the unauthorised colony with “illegal structures” has an active water and electricity supply, and working sewer lines. While residents did not show proof or ownership of the buildings or land records, officials said that they possessed Aadhaar cards and voter IDs with the address, Janata Colony, Welcome.

However, houses and other structures in such colonies are usually built using substandard concrete and steel girders to reduce cost, making them ticking time bombs because of their compromised structural integrity.

Experts say that the policy framework needs to be reviewed so that such construction can be monitored by an agency. As of now, these are mostly unauthorised constructions that are not under any town planning guidelines.

“About 50-60% constructions in Delhi are unauthorised, and there is no way to monitor them. There is an urgent need for policy intervention to bring these areas under a monitoring framework,” said PS Uttarwar, retired additional commissioner of DDA.

Despite being aware of the same, civic agencies have not done much to identify dangerous buildings across the city.

In May, HT reported that MCD’s annual pre-monsoon exercise of identifying dangerous buildings was lagging behind schedule, with just 36.9% of the targeted buildings covered over two months. Out of the targeted 2.83 million houses, MCD teams had covered 1,045,814 buildings till May 23. None of these buildings was found to be dangerous but 82 houses were found in need of repair, according to MCD reports.

The annual exercise is expected to identify the dangerous structures which may be prone to structural damage or collapse during the rainy season due to seepages and storms.