Five years ago Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) decided to undertake a demolition drive against illegal structures on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road. It had,at the time,taken strong action against building numbers MG-0,MG-1,MG-2,MG-11,MG-12 and MG 13 many were showrooms for high fashion brands. The civic agency had torn down parts of the structures in 2006. The agency has since forgotten about the buildings,which now stand in a semi-demolished state and are a safety hazard for neighbours and passers-by. After many complaints,MCD has now sent notices to the owners of the buildings to raze the structures on their own. Vikram Singh,who lives next to MG-0,says he has stopped using a portion of his house that is close to demolished building as he fears it can collapse any time. He says a part of the building,which is tilting dangerously towards his house,collapsed during the recent earthquake in Delhi. I had to shift my family to the other side of the house. I closed the cafeteria,which I used to run on one side of the crumbling structure. I have sent many notices to MCD to demolish it, but no one has heard my plea, says Singh. He also highlights security issues. I had to also keep an eye on the security of my house as last year police had arrested thieves with stolen air conditioners from this building, he says. While MG-0 resembles a ghost house,MG-1 is covered with a green sheet to prevent falling stones and pieces of cement landing on passers-by and parked cars. At MG-2,the civic agency had demolished the lower floors,leaving gravity to do the rest. At present,the upper floors are settled precariously on the crumbling pillars of the lower floors. Srikant,who has been a caretaker of MG-2 for past five years,says the owner comes often to check the building. Meanwhile,Sriram Chandra,owner of a three-storey house next to MG-11,says the demolished building is now a haunt of thieves. Thieves have stolen packets of cement and other building material from the damaged structure. They even hide the stolen goods there. I have lost business as people refused to pay rent for my two floors, says Chandra. He says he had requested the owner of the building to demolish the structure,but to no avail. Kiran Dabral,Deputy Commissioner MCD (South zone),says: It has been years that the buildings have been half demolished. Demolishing whole structure would cost us a lot,and MCD would have been unable to bear the expense. We will soon start sending notices to the owners to demolish their structures.
