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Delhi spectre looms over city builders
THE TREMORS of Supreme Court directives to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) prohibiting commercial activities in residential areas are being felt in the State capital also. And unlike in the past, this time, there seems to be no escape for over 300 erring builders and owners of unauthorised constructions in the city.
THE TREMORS of Supreme Court directives to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) prohibiting commercial activities in residential areas are being felt in the State capital also. And unlike in the past, this time, there seems to be no escape for over 300 erring builders and owners of unauthorised constructions in the city.
As a first step towards it, LDA vice chairman BB Singh held a meeting with the members of the department’s enforcement wing on Thursday.
The enforcement section engineers were asked to short-list illegal constructions on the following four categories: unauthorized commercial premises in residential localities, structures that have made violating their approved building plan, those that have encroached on parking spaces and the one’s that are totally illegal.
“The list would be ready by Friday. Apart from publishing it in newspapers, we would put it up on our department’s website (ldalucknow.com) and also publicise it through FM radio,” said Singh. He said it would be a concerted drive that would be undertaken with the help of Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), district administration and the police.
So what has spurred the authorities into action? At the backdrop of their new, instant zeal to bring the owners of these unauthorised structures to book is a letter written to the principal secretary housing by a city lawyer BK Shukla on March 11.
Drawing the housing secretary’s attention towards the apex court’s order, the lawyer has pointed out the recent spurt in commercial activities in residential localities, which he said, were being carried out with impunity in violation of the city’s Master Plan –2021. Acting on the complaint, the State Government wrote to the LDA VC on May 8, asking him to take appropriate action in the matter.
The LDA VC, who read out the letter, as well as the apex court’s order, detailing the step-by-step procedure (see box) in the meeting said, the directives would be implemented in letter and spirit irrespective of the consequences.
