MCG survey to identify city’s dangerous buildings

On the directions of the Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC), the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will be conducting a survey to identify all the dangerous

On the directions of the Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC), the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will be conducting a survey to identify all the dangerous buildings in the city, nearly 18 months after the collapse of two buildings. The MCG has set a 15-day deadline to complete this task.

HT Image

In January last year, a building collapsed in Ullawas village, claiming the lives of seven people; three months later another building collapsed in Sector 13. No injuries were reported in that incident.

After the incidents, the MCG was directed both by the district administration and the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) to initiate a survey to identify all the dangerous buildings in the city that are unfit for human habitation. However, no steps were taken by the civic body in this regard as per the internal order issued by MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh earlier this week.

According to MCG officials privy to the matter, Singh had attended a hearing before the HHRC bench last week in Chandigarh regarding the matter. In his order — a copy of which is in the possession of Hindustan Times — Singh stated that taking cognisance of the collapse of two buildings last year, HHRC has directed the MCG to submit a detailed report regarding the buildings that have not been constructed as per the building bye-laws and the safety parameters and can, therefore, be considered to be “dangerous to human habitation.”

Singh also appointed Satywan Singh, superintending engineer (SE), as the nodal officer for the survey and directed all executive engineers to support him in the matter. The SE would be preparing all reports in the matter and appearing before HHRC as MCG’s representative, the order further stated.

Satywan Singh, on Wednesday evening, issued an order, to all eight executive engineers of the civic body to identify all the dangerous buildings in their respective areas within 15 days, failing which the matter could be treated as non-compliance with the orders of HC as well as those of the HHRC and “attract strict disciplinary action”.

“The matter is of great public interest as it directly deals with their safety and well-being. Orders have been sent to all executive engineers to survey their respective areas so that a report can be formulated at the earliest that would help us create a database of all the unsafe structures in the city,” said Satywan.

He further said that based on the report, the MCG would be directing building owners of all unsafe buildings to ensure that all occupants vacate their structures immediately, failing which the civic body would have to initiate action on its own.

“We do not want a repeat of Ullawas or that of the four-storey building which tilted in Sector 46 due to heavy rains in August this year. In the latter, we had to scramble our resources at the penultimate moment and move the occupants to safety. By creating a database, we want to identify unsafe structures that can either be repaired or demolished. We want to give occupants of such structures a notice in advance so that the corrective measures can be taken and lives can be saved,” said Satywan.

On January 24 last year, a newly constructed three-storey building collapsed in Ullawas village in Sector 61. The building had been built six months prior to the incident, and the building owner was adding an additional floor at the time. The lintel for the fourth-floor was erected a day before the incident leading to the weakening of the building’s structural stability and its ultimate collapse.

On April 12, 2019, an under-construction basement in Sector 13 resulted in the base of the adjoining one-storey building, a cosmetic shop, to weaken and collapse. The cosmetic shop owner had closed his shop just 15 minutes before the incident. No injuries were reported in the incident.