East, North MCDs launch drive to identify precarious buildings

In a bid to identify vulnerable constructions before the onset of monsoons, the East and North Delhi Municipal Corporations have announced to launch a drive in the upcoming days wherein they would demolish buildings that can pose a risk to human life. Officials of both the MCDs said that those buildings that are likely to face any untoward incident owing to its faulty construction will be identified through a detailed survey of each ward and later will be demolished.

“Every monsoon we witness building collapse incidents which cause risk to the human lives. The agencies, even after taking measures before and after the incident, face wrath of the people hence, we have decided to identify weak and old structures and to raze them on time,” said a senior MCD official. According to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation data, an inspection team will pick a particular area of every zone and spot the dangerous buildings. “In a similar case, a chunk of properties were declared dangerous during a drive in May 2015 under Section 348 and 349 of the DMC Act, 1957 where the properties that consisted of four and a half floors were found dangerous at the time of inspection. The owners immediately had to vacate the properties and demolition was started. The owner also gave a written undertaking wherein they have owned the responsibility of demolition and risk factors involved,” said a senior official in the North MCD. In 2015, 293 buildings were found dangerous in the City zone, 117 in SP zone, and one building in Rohini zone.

As per the rules and regulations, civil engineers of MCD conduct the survey to identify the dangerous buildings and judge the buildings’ strength. Officials say that the action depends upon the degree of damage. If a building is found worthy of repair, a notice is issued to the owner of the building to order repair of the building. In case of severe damage, the eviction notice is served to the owner on the spot and the building is demolished.

During a survey of dangerous buildings of the North MCD, 27 buildings were demolished in year 2012, 10 buildings in year 2013 and 3 buildings were demolished in 2014 in the City zone. In SP zone, three buildings were demolished in year 2013 while Karol Bagh zone saw one demolition each in 2012, 2013 and year 2014. In year 2014, two buildings of Rohini zone were partly demolished. In Civil Line zone, two buildings were demolished in year 2013.

“Ahead of the monsoon season, East and North Municipal Corporations conduct a survey where they find out dangerous buildings that can pose a risk to human life. During rains, the buildings are much more prone to untoward incidents so we conduct a survey to find out the vulnerable spots,” said an official of the East MCD.