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Nowhere to go, family of 9 makes truck its house, seeks compensation
The cracks on the house were first seen on February 2 and its boundary wall collapsed on the night of February 6. Workers at the site then erected scaffolding to keep the house from collapsing altogether.
A two-storeyed house in the city’s Vineet Khand-I area that developed cracks earlier this month allegedly due to digging activities at an adjacent construction site, continued to develop more fissures forcing its residents, a family of nine, to make a truck their temporary abode for the last 10 days even as they fought a legal battle seeking compensation.
The cracks were first seen on February 2 and its boundary wall collapsed on the night of February 6. Workers at the site then erected scaffolding to keep the house from collapsing altogether.
“It’s been over 10 days since we are forced to live out in the open. Our one-year-old son has received several injuries on his legs while playing,” said Durga Pratap Singh, the owner of the house in question. “Deep digging done at the adjacent plot poses a threat to my son’s life. Seeing the incompetence and apathy of officials, we have now hired a lawyer to take the issue to the court. We want compensation,” he added.
Committee likely to submit report today, construction site sealed
Refuting the allegation of official ignorance, Gyanedra Verma, additional secretary-Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), said the family had earlier alleged that a fake survey report was prepared that stated there were no cracks in the building.
On Wednesday, an LDA team, which included Verma, visited the site for inspection. He said diggings at the construction site was done without following the necessary protocol. “We also asked the family to provide us a map of their house, but they were unwilling to share it with us,” he said and added a committee was formed to probe the issue and its report was expected on Thursday.
Awadesh Singh, LDA assistant engineer, said “The construction site has been sealed. A notice was served on its owner, Dr. Sanu Rastogi, earlier. An FIR was lodged against Dr Rastogi at the Gomti Nagar police station on the basis of the family’s complaint.”
