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Journalism of Courage
In Laxmi Nagar,an unauthorised colony that was regularised in 1970s,a building can legally only have three floors and a basement. The building that collapsed had six floors above ground and another was under-construction. But despite the clear violation,the Municipal Corporation of Delhi,the agency responsible for taking action on illegal structures,looked the other way. An official of the civic body told Newsline on Monday that in the last year they had listed 5,589 illegal structures in the city,but the house that collapsed was not on the list.
Yoginder Chandolia,the leader of the MCD Standing Committee,said apart from four floors,the house had additional two floors built on the terrace in such a way that they were not visible from the front. We were told that the house owner was making a lot of alterations, he said. The owner was paying property tax for just three floors,he added. It is unfair to put the entire onus of the building collapse on the MCD since the Delhi government was also responsible for laxity towards the colony, Chandolia said.
On Tuesday,MCD Commissioner K S Mehra called a meeting of all zonal deputy commissioners and said they will start booking owners of illegal buildings. He also urged DCs to demolish illegal buildings so that it acts as a deterent for other property owners making illegal alterations to their homes.
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