Facing severe criticism in the aftermath of the death of seven people following a building collapse on Wednesday, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has ordered house to house re-survey for identifying dangerous buildings in its jurisdiction.
According to the last survey conducted by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), 181 buildings were found dangerous as on September 21. On account of incessant rain and collapse of a building at Sawan Park in North west Delhi, the officials said, the survey will seek to find other dangerous houses in the North Coproration area.
In the order issued by Engineer in Chief to engineers of all its zones, it is stated that any laxity or misreporting in this regard shall be viewed very seriously and the concerned official would be held personally responsible for it.
A senior corporation official said the order has been issued to all Executive Engineers (Maintenance) regarding the same with direction to complete the survey within seven days. "It has been also decided that the buildings which have already been marked dangerous should be issued notices as per the provisions of DMC Act," he said.
According to the order, the exercise must be completed within one week's time and the required action should be taken as per the provisions. Any "laxity or mis-reporting" in this regard shall be viewed very seriously and the staff shall be held responsible personally, the order said. Four children were among seven people who died after five-storeyed building in Ashok Vihar caved in. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and North Corporation Mayor Adesh Gupta had ordered separate enquiries into the incident.
Interestingly, Ashok Vihar falls in Keshav Puram Zone of the NDMC. In the last survey, "no building" in this zone were reported as dangerous. In order to avoid such a tragic incident in future, the corporation has decided to serve vacation notices to properties to the owners of the dangerous properties that will later be sealed, he said.
It may be noted that during the last survey conducted across the jurisdiction of the North Corporation, 171 out of 181 builings were found in the Narela Zone, four in Karol Bagh Zone, three in City-Sadar Paharganz Zone, two in Rohini Zone an one in Civil Lines Zone. "When a house is surveyed, the owners or residents are either advised to get it repaired if doable or vacate the premises and demolish it, in case it is very dangerous, and rebuild it," a senior civic official said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have issued a statement to claim that the collapsed building was surveyed by the corporation officials some 20 days ago and they had found it to be dangerous of living, yet they did nothing.