Illegal buildings are back in Dwarka

Barely a month after the high court-appointed monitoring committee got disbanded, encroachments are back in Delhi, reports Neelam Pandey.

Barely a month after the high court-appointed monitoring committee got disbanded, encroachments are back in Delhi.

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Several illegal shopping complexes have come up in connivance with junior MCD officials and local politicians in the city. Flouting building norms, nearly 50 commercial establishments have reared their head in Dwarka. According to the MCD officials they are unable to take action in many cases as they have the backing of local councillors.

“Building mafia in connivance with the local councillor of Palam, Vijay Pandit, constructed 47 commercial complexes in Dwarka sector 7. When we tried taking action against the buildings Pandit used abusive language and threatened us. We have lodged an FIR against him and have also passed sealing orders for all those buildings,” said deputy commissioner of Najafgarh zone, Ashok Kumar. According to the civic agency massive illegal constructions are still going on in areas such as Dwarka, Karol Bagh, Mahipalpur among others.

When contacted Pandit denied the charges and blamed the MCD officials for their inefficiency in checking unauhtorised construction. “I have not constructed any illegal building in my area. The junior staff of MCD is indulging in such practices,” said Pandit.

While the area is to be used for constructing residential complexes solely, the BJP councillor had constructed all these commercial buildings without getting a building plan sanctioned. Earlier the BJP-led MCD had made tall promises that soon after the disbandment of the monitoring committee they would have a full-fledged mechanism in place to keep a check on unauthorised constructions.

The executive wing of the civic agency has now demolished one of the commercial complexes and sealed five. Orders have also been passed to seal the remaining 41 too.

To keep a check on these illegal constructions, the civic agency had also launched a software to detect and monitor unauthorised constructions and encroachment in the city. But the project is yet to take off.