Chandni Mahal collapse: MCD finalises its report

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has finalised the vigilance report in the Chandni Mahal building collapse incident, in which seven persons died and 23 were injured.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has finalised the vigilance report in the Chandni Mahal building collapse incident, in which seven persons died and 23 were injured.According to sources, all engineers and officials of the city zone, under whose jurisdiction the building falls, might go scot-free. The report will be submitted to the MCD’s standing committee in the next meeting.“The building that collapsed was very old and no illegal construction had taken place there. The civic agency had served a stop-work notice to a neighbouring building, where illegal construction was being carried out. The MCD has done the work it was supposed to do. It is the Delhi Police which should have taken action, but they didn’t,” said an MCD official, requesting anonymity. The official added there was no laxity on the civic agency’s front.The building collapsed on September 27. A day after, MCD commissioner KS Mehra ordered a vigilance inquiry into the matter. On October 3, the superintending engineer of the city zone was suspended.

Following the residents’ ire, the MCD started taking action on some dangerous buildings in the area. It also came up with a policy easing the norms for getting a building plan sanctioned in Old Delhi areas.