Following directions given by the district magistrate C Ravishankar, the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has identified 47 condemned buildings in the city. Officials have started serving notices to the occupants of the buildings. Municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said that necessary steps will be taken against the people not following the orders.
The number of condemned buildings has increased from 32 last year to 47 now. Pandey said, “As per our orders the team did a survey and identified 47 condemned buildings in the city. The engineering department of the MCD has been given the responsibility to mark such buildings and issue notices to the owners or occupants of the buildings. The first step is to give notices and if the notice is not taken seriously, necesary inquiries will be done by the officials.”
Observers point out that condemned buildings are marked every year before monsoon, but no strict actions have been taken so far. When asked about it, mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ said, “We have been given orders to mark the condemned buildings in the city. The directions were given to revise the data of the older buildings as many cases have come to me for demolishing buildings as some owners want to remove the tenants. It is true that none of the buildings have been demolished so far. For now, we are sending notices to the building owners if no steps will be taken by the owners than according to the rules and government procedure, steps will be taken for eviction and demolition of buildings which are in a very bad condition and beyond repair.”