Greater Noida tragedy brings illegal construction into focus

Around 150 hectares of land have come under unauthorised construction in Shahberi alone, mostly because lower middle class families are lured by the relatively low rates offered by unscrupulous builders.

The collapse of two buildings at Shahberi on Tuesday night has once again swung the spotlight on the proliferation of unauthorised structures across Greater Noida over the last decade.

Rescue operations are on after two buildings collapsed in Greater Noida’s Shahberi village on Tuesday night. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Rescue operations at the site were still on, as of Wednesday morning, and three bodies had already been extracted from the rubble. National Disaster Response Force personnel and local police teams said they were specifically trying to locate a family that had moved into one of the buildings.

Experts believe there are more disasters of the kind waiting to happen, unless timely action is taken.

Around 150 hectares of land have come under unauthorised construction in Shahberi alone, mostly because lower middle class families who move to urban centres are lured by the relatively low rates offered by unscrupulous builders.

In 2009-10, the Greater Noida Authority had acquired 3,635 hectares of land from about a dozen villages to form the Noida Extension area. Around 161.531 hectares of this land came from Shahberi village. Later, following a Supreme Court order delivered in October 2011, the land was returned to the farmers.

Police have detained a Ghaziabad-based builder in connection with the Shahberi tragedy, and are searching for another from Meerut.