System to check illegal construction yet to start

The much-hyped 3-D GIS that was launched in the Walled City last December has not detected a single case of illegal construction till date, reports Neelam Pandey.

The much-hyped ‘Three Dimensional Geographical Information System’ (3-D GIS) that was launched in the Walled City last December has not detected a single case of illegal construction till date.

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Reason: the monitoring centre that was set up in the city zone has not been functioning, with the maintenance company still waiting to get its annual maintenance contract.

“The company that had installed the hardware will also be carrying out the maintenance work. However, the annual maintenance contract has not been signed yet. Once that is done, the actual functioning will start,” said Vijay Singh, Deputy Commissioner, city zone, MCD.

He added that the Department of Science and Technology was supposed to fund it but if that doesn't happen, the civic body will fund it itself.

“We are also planning to install five more cameras in the Walled City to keep an eye on illegal construction,” he said.

Recently, a six-storey building came crashing as two illegal floors were being added to it.

The civic body said once the GIS system at city zone takes off, it would extend the system to other parts of the city too.

“I personally visited the city zone office and they had detected few unauthorised constructions in the area,” said Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology.

Under the 3-D GIS, cameras with a range of five km were installed near Jama Masjid, Kasturba Gandhi Hospital and Asaf Ali Road.

These cameras capture all images related to construction activities being carried out in these areas and are viewed by the monitoring centre.

If any unauthorised construction is detected by the cameras, the monitoring room can refer the case to the building department for an action.

The civic body is planning to install five more cameras at Chandni Chowk, Civic Centre, Ballimaran, Lahori Gate and Fountain Chowk.