Urban News

The Pioneer  30.11.2010

Staff Reporter | New Delhi

Panic gripped the residents of east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area on Monday when cracks were detected by the people in a four-storey building situated on Vikas Marg. As people living in the neighbourhood noticed a big crack in the structure, they informed the police. Later, a team of disaster management and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) rushed to the spot. Authorities swung into action and the building was evacuated immediately and sealed. After sealing the property, it has been put on technical observation. A glass and paper test sheets have been fixed on the building to ascertain further tilt. According to a senior MCD official, an appropriate decision will be taken after analysis of the observation report.

Due to the crack in property no 53, the structure also tilted a bit, which alerted the people in the area. It is an illegally-constructed structure and is not a residential complex. But, several business activities were being carried out. It houses an English language coaching centre and an advertisement agency. As the result of tilt and damage in the property, a few adjoining buildings also had an effect. Balwant Singh Pawana, whose property was just behind the sealed building, said he had made a number of complaints against the unauthorised construction in the said property but no action was initiated.

“A few days ago, I again wrote to the MCD about the crack in the building due to which a crack has also appeared in my property. Today, as we noticed that the edifice tilted towards left, we informed the police,” he said.

MCD Deputy Commissioner Shahdara south zone said that he received a complaint in the forenoon that the building bearing no G-53 in Laxmi Nagar on Vikas Marg had developed cracks and became dangerous. “MCD teams immediately rushed to the spot and got the building vacated. A thorough survey of the entire building was carried out by the MCD team. There appeared to be no imminent danger to the building. However, the building has been kept under technical observation,” the MCD Deputy Commissioner said.

He added that glass and paper strips have been placed on the existing cracks which appeared to be old. “It is being monitored if there is any variation in width of the cracks. The final position with regard to stability of the building would be established in a few days on examination of the strips,” said the MCD official.

Notably, a few days ago, a multi-storey building was demolished in J Block of Shakurpur area after a big crack appeared in the building.

The Hindu      30.11.2010

Cracks reported in building at Laxmi Nagar, evacuated

NEW DELHI: Following complaints of cracks developing inside a building in Laxmi Nagar here, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Monday got the building evacuated and sealed it as a precautionary measure.

According to the civic body, the Deputy Commissioner, Shahdara (South) Zone, received a complaint in the morning that a four-storey building (G-53) housing commercial properties in Laxmi Nagar on Vikas Marg had “developed cracks and become dangerous”.

MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur said: “Our teams immediately rushed to the spot and got the building evacuated. A survey of the entire building was also carried out by the team and there appeared to be no imminent danger to the building. However, the building has been kept under technical observation.”

“Glass and paper strips have been placed on the existing cracks which appeared to be old. It is being monitored if there is any variation in width of the cracks. The final position with regard to stability of the building would be established in a few days on examination of the strips. Meanwhile, the building has been sealed. The MCD will take appropriate action after submission of the final report based on examination of technical inputs,” he added.

However, some civic body officials claimed that the building was reportedly 15 years old and had been bearing cracks for the past 13 years. “This appears to be a case of personal enmity where the neighbours of this building wanted to harass and settle scores by reporting the complaint and creating turmoil,” they added.