Taking severe action against illegal construction, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Sunday demolished illegally-developed portions in 139 properties and sealed 20 properties in Sadar Pahar Ganj, Rohini, Karol Bagh, Civil lines, Narela and City zones. Until July this year, the Corporation had targeted 889 properties for unauthorised construction and this move has now further intensified the corporation’s drive to curb this menace.
“The Corporation would continue its drive to curb illegal construction so that unauthorised construction can be discouraged. The demolition actions were taken by the engineering department with the help of local police,” said Yogendra Singh Mann, Director of Press and Information of North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
According to the Corporation, illegal portions of 11 properties were demolished in Sadar Pahar Ganj zone. These areas include Nabi Karim, Singhara Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Main Pahari Dhiraj Road, Swadeshi Market, Nalwa Gali, Paharganj, Shastri Nagar and Gali No. 6 and Chuna Mandi. The illegal portions of four properties were demolished in Rohini zone, including GH-6, Paschim Vihar, Sant Nagar in Rani Bagh, SFS flats, Paschim Vihar A-Block, Paschim Vihar and one property was sealed at Meera Bagh A-Block in Paschim Vihar.
The Karol Bagh Zone, however, tops the list especially after the Inderlok building collapse which took place recently. The corporation data states that the illegal portions of 89 properties were demolished in the Karol Bagh Zone. Besides this, the illegal portions in 18 properties were re-sealed in the Karol Bagh Zone. Four Mobile towers were also sealed in Karol Bagh Zone are Saraswati Garden, Madan Park, Shivaji Marg and Rama Road. Demolitions in this zone also took place after the Indelok collapse. A day after the building collapse in Inderlok that claimed 10 lives, the corporation had demolished 17 illegal properties in Karol Bagh and Sadar Pahar Ganj zones. Besides, it issued work stop notices to 33 other properties in Karol Bagh zone. This includes four properties in Tulsi Nagar area where a building had collapsed on Saturday while the founding of an adjacent building was being dug.
However, this time, the buildings targeted were far more than before. This time, in Civil lines Zone, 14 properties had their illegal portions demolished. The included major residential areas like Shastri Park Extension, Basti Punjabian, Mukherjee Nagar and Ashok Vihar. One property was also sealed at Gali Bagchiwali, Kashmere Gate. Nine properties were affected in the Narela zone. Similarly, demolitions occurred at 22 properties in City zone.
The Municipal Commissioner, Praveen Gupta, in a meeting directed all the Deputy Commissioners of Zones to have zero tolerance against unauthorized construction. He also directed them to lodge criminal case against those builders/owners who construct buildings without following safety norms and maintaining durability standards, as that may invite accident by collapsing. Gupta further informed that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation took demolition and sealing action against ongoing unauthorised construction in 889 properties till July this year from January.
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