From illegal to legal
Razing thousands of building that have come up illegally in the city is proving to be a daunting task for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Razing thousands of building that have come up illegally in the city is proving to be a daunting task for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The civic agency is now thinking of regularising such structures after conducting a structural safety check.
As per the MCD, thousands of buildings have come up across the city without their building plans being sanctioned—a mandatory task, especially in unauthorised regularised colonies.
“If we demolish such structures, thousands of people will become homeless. Also, in many cases these buildings were built illegally in connivance with MCD officials as they continued to turn a blind eye to the structures. The issue was raised in a meeting last week wherein it was decided we will write a letter to the Centre and Lt. Governor asking them to allow us to regularise these buildings,” said Jagdish Mamgain, MCD Works Committee chairman.
However, only the structurally safe buildings will be regularised. The MCD is conducting a survey of all such buildings to ascertain which are structurally safe. “There are a many buildings that were built without a building plan but are structurally sound. In such a situation, we want to give the owners the chance to legalise them,” said an MCD official.
The civic agency will charge a fee to regularise such buildings. “This will help the property owners in unauthorised regularised colonies such as Laxmi Nagar, Molarband, Jaitpur, Ramesh Park, Krishna Nagar, Geeta Colony, Badarpur where buildings have been built without the plan being passed,” he added.
Buildings found to be structurally weak and dangerous will be razed. The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) had also conducted a survey in East Delhi identifying structurally weak buildings. The civic agency had said that retrofitting would be carried out in buildings as per CBRI guidance if required.
The MCD began a demolition drive across the city after a house with illegal floors collapsed in east Delhi’s Lalita Park killing 72 persons.
