Civic agency brings down unsafe building

A building declared dangerous by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was demolished in northwest Delhi's Shakurpur JJ Colony on Saturday.

A building declared dangerous by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was demolished in northwest Delhi's Shakurpur JJ Colony on Saturday.

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The building, spread across three plots (numbers J415, J416 and J417), was brought down after a building on the adjacent plot (J418) developed cracks.

Deep Mathur, MCD's director (Press and Information), said the MCD carried out a survey of nearby buildings after they were informed of the cracks in the building and it decided to demolish the property in view of the safety of the occupants.

The police barricaded both the entries to the lane in which the properties were located before starting the demolition work. Though the family which owned the building protested, the civic agency went ahead with the demolition.

The property belongs to Rameshwar Prasad (38), a garment trader who stays with his family on the opposite side of the road.

Prasad had bought three 25 sq yard plots on general power of attorney (GPA) and was constructing a single building on it. "As it is a JJ colony, there is no need of an authority to sanction building plan. But I had got the map of the building done from an architect," he said.

"My neighbour's house developed cracks not because of the work at my building but because it was a 25-year-old building with just 4-inch wide walls and no pillars to support it," he claimed without taking the name of his neighbour.

The MCD also issued sealing notices to owners of property no J-418, 419, 457, 458, 459 and 460 as these, too, had become dangerous.

The residents have been asked to immediately vacate the buildings and the reasons for the cracks in these buildings, which rendered them unsafe, are being examined.