Sealing sword hangs over 29 CP high-rises

Many high-rises on Barakhamba Road and KG Marg face the threat of a demolition and sealing drive if they do not obtain completion certificates from the civic body in three months.

Many high-rises on Barakhamba Road and KG Marg face the threat of a demolition and sealing drive if they do not obtain completion certificates from the civic body in three months.

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The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on February 22 sent letters to the estate managers of 29 multi-storey buildings in the area such as Nirmal Tower, Ashoka Estate, Akash Deep Building, Arunachal Building, Vijaya Building and Kanchanjunga Building, asking them to obtain their completion certificates within three months.

If they don’t, the council will initiate action as per the NDMC Act.

Most of these buildings had come up more than 25 years ago when the NDMC had a provision of giving temporary occupancy certificates to buildings that deviated from the original building plan.

The certificate was given on the condition that the builders will remove the deviations and apply for the completion certificate again.

“The buildings are still operating on a temporary occupancy certificate. If they do not obtain their completion certificate, we demolish or seal them,” said OP Mishra, Director of Enforcement of Building Regulation department (E-BR).

When contacted, the stakeholders of these buildings said they were preparing documents needed to be submitted to the NDMC.

An estate manager of Nirmal Tower said. “Our building was built according to the sanctioned plan, which is why it was given a temporary occupancy certificate. What is the need to rake up the issue again? People are working in the buildings and paying their property taxes and other bills. Where is the illegality?” he said.

A meeting will be held on Thursday to decide how the NDMC will initiate action against the violating buildings.

According to sources, the letters were sent after receiving complaints from owners of offices located in Vijaya Building. These people had lost their offices after a portion of the building was sealed in 2011 on the orders of the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.