Tall buildings to face MCD axe

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has trained its guns on buildings that violate the prescribed height rule in approved, unauthorised and unauthorised regularised residential colonies. The civic agency has announced that it would simply demolish the structures that it would identify in a survey.

The civic agency has swung into action after a house with illegal floors collapsed in east Delhi's Lalita Park, killing 72 persons last Monday.

Besides, the MCD will also carry out a survey to identify 'dangerous buildings' in the city. But now the residents will have to shell out money for the consultancy.

MCD commissioner KS Mehra said, “The consultancy charges and the cost of retrofitting, if in case it is carried out in the building to make it structurally stable, will have to be borne by the residents.”

In many areas structures taller than 15 metres are not allowed according to the Master Plan for Delhi 2021. MCD's Standing Committee chairman Yogender Chandolia said illegal floors in such buildings might be demolished too.

The MCD commissioner also said the experts of Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), who had collected samples from the collapsed house in Lalita Park and inspected other constructions in the area, will get back to the MCD with the details and then necessary action will be taken.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the MCD Standing Committee on Wednesday had to be adjourned halfway after the opposition Congress caused a ruckus over the 'delay' in submitting the report of the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO), who was asked to probe the Lalita Park incident.

Mehra said the CVO has sought more time to complete the probe as there are 'complex issues' involved and he needs to go through the relevant documents seized by him.