Noida administration is set to launch a massive drive against illegal constructions in the city and carry out demolition activities as part of it. To begin with, the administration has identified over five dozen buildings that have been illegally erected in the rural and urban areas in the last few years. The administration will send notices to the building owners this week and will initiate the demolition thereafter.
last week, a detailed survey was conducted by the administration in five areas: Harola, Barola, Bhangel and outskirts of Sector 44 and Sector 47. Newly constructed buildings were under the scanner during the procedure. The survey unearthed that people have been living at high risk in these buildings as their foundations were not constructed strong enough to take the burden of four or five floors for a long period. These could collapse any time, risking the lives of the occupants round-the-clock.
The survey also revealed nexus between the building owners and small time builders. The building owners gave their consent to the builders for constructing additional floors on the existing structures by ignoring safety measures and guidelines issued by the authorities. The builders either run commercial activities or sell these floors to individuals on high rates. In some cases, the building owners have been running commercial activities themselves. Around 30 such buildings were found alone in Harola, a prime location of the city, majority of these buildings are being used for commercial purposes.
According to a senior administrative official, the city administration is determined to raze such constructions within a certain period to prevent any untoward incident. "We have decided to send notices to the occupants from Monday. We will give them one week's time to reply and will start demolishing these structures after that with the help of a law enforcement agency. We will also ensure that such type of constructions should not take place in the future as well," said Sanjay Chauhan, City Magistrate of Noida.
As there is no regulatory body to stop such illegal construction, we have been studying the guidelines of Noida authority and if these guidelines do not prove sufficient provisions to come down heavily on such occupants, we will act under Section 133 of CrPc Act, added Chauhan.
A senior official of Noida Authority said that though the authority have issued guidelines for all types of construction in and around the city, they can monitor only those structures whose lands fall under the region of Noida authority. "We cannot act on these violators as we are not authorised to give No Objection Certificate (NOC) on the lands of these areas. We can check violations only on those lands which get clearance from the authority," he said.