MCD stops illegal construction in Chandni Chowk

A day after HT reported about the illegal construction being carried out on a plot situated in the main Chandni Chowk area - barely 20m away from Town Hall - construction has been stopped by officials from the Delhi government and MCD.

A day after HT reported about the illegal construction being carried out on a plot situated in the main Chandni Chowk area - barely 20m away from Town Hall - construction has been stopped by officials from the Delhi government and MCD.

HT Image

On Friday at around 11am, a team of officials led by SDM Kotwali visited the plot where illegal construction was taking place. "Illegal construction was being carried out on two floors and after inspecting the entire plot, work was stopped immediately," said a senior official who inspected the building. A team of Delhi Police had also accompanied the SDM.

Officials said that as the building plan had not been sanctioned in the area, the builder had obtained permission for carrying out repair work and under the garb of it, was illegally constructing two floors.

The plot where the building has been constructed houses several shops and two new floors have been added to it by the builder. The entire building is flouting all the safety norms as the floors have been constructed which are standing on girders only.

The civic agency has served a notice to the builder. "A stop work notice has been served by us and an inquiry is being conducted. Appropriate action will be taken against the builder," said Deep Mathur, director, press and information, MCD.

The MCD has been making tall claims of taking action against illegal construction but so far this year, the City zone has taken action against 26 properties only. A Special Task Force was also constituted by the government to monitor illegal construction but even that has proved of little help.