Urban News

The Hindu      09.12.2010

MCD seals parts of 17 “unsafe” buildings at Lalita Park

Staff Reporter

Traffic blocked:Residents protesting against the sealing of portions of buildings by the MCD at Lalita Park in East Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: As part of its drive against unauthorised constructions in the city in the wake of the building collapse last month which claimed 70 lives, the MCD on Wednesday sealed illegal portions of 17 buildings in Lalita Park which violated the permissible height limit of 15 metres.

An MCD official said: “The entire buildings were not sealed. Only their fourth or fifth floors which were above the permissible limit of 15 metres were targeted.”

However, the drive was marred by violence with a group of building owners allegedly manhandling MCD councillor Sohan Lal at a parking lot in Lalita Park. Meanwhile, another group of locals also protested on the busy Vikas Marg blocking traffic for some time.

The civic body had on Tuesday also asked the owners of 638 buildings in Shahdara South Zone to conduct structural safety check of their houses and apply to the MCD for regularising them.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress in the MCD slammed the preliminary report of the probe submitted by the civic body's vigilance department into the Lalita Park incident and demanded a CBI inquiry in the matter.

In the first disciplinary action ordered by the MCD after the incident, the civic body had suspended four officials including two engineers for allegedly allowing two illegal floors to come up in the building. As per the report, unauthorised construction was carried out in the building during 2004-05 when Congress was in power.

Mr Sharma said: “We reject the report as it is politically motivated and submitted under political pressure. The building was actually constructed in 1997-98 when the BJP was in power. The BJP is trying to protect the big fish and make some lower-level workers the scapegoat. We demand a CBI probe into the issue to bring the real facts to light.”

The Hindu  08.12.2010

ASI initiates move to clear encroachments

Firoz Rozindar

Rs. 8.25 lakh each paid to families living in the fort area for long

ANCIENT:The historical fort in Chitradurga has been declared a heritage monument.

Chitradurga: Following the promulgation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010, the Archaeological Department here has served notices on 26 people who have constructed buildings within a 300-metre radius of the Chitradurga Fort.

Under the amendment to the Act in March this year, no construction is allowed within a 300-metre radius of a protected monument.

While an area of 100 metres around a protected monument is declared a prohibited area, the remaining 200-metre area is treated as a regulated area.

Objective

“The objective of this restriction is to protect ancient monuments from encroachment and to preserve them for posterity,” said an official of the department.

After receiving a copy of the new Act, the department launched a survey of ancient monuments and listed the buildings that had come up in the restricted area. Over 80 per cent of the survey has been completed.

So far, 26 structures have been found in the restricted area.

Notices have been served on the owners that they should not undertake any more construction work on the existing buildings. However, construction work is still going on in 13 structures, the official said.

The National Monuments Authority (NMA) has constituted State-level monitoring committees to check unauthorised constructions in and around protected monuments.

These committees have been asked to submit a report on such constructions.

Two committees

In Karnataka, two committees, one for the Bangalore region and another for the Dharwad region, have been constituted for the purpose.

The Bangalore region is under the control of the Secretaries of the departments of Kannada and Culture and Information, while the Dharwad region is under the Regional Commissioner of Belgaum division.

“These committees have been empowered to take action against encroachers. The law makes it mandatory that those intending to construct a building in the restricted area should obtain a no-objection certificate from these committees in advance. Permission from local bodies such as city municipal council or city corporation is not valid,” the official said.

Instruction

The official said that the city municipal council and the district administration here had been asked not to permit any construction within the restricted area and to immediately stop those that were under way.

A nationwide survey of encroachment in and around protected monuments has also been launched, the official said.

Asked about the fate of those living in the restricted area for decades, he said the Archaeological Survey of India had paid Rs. 8.25 lakh each as compensation to the owners of such houses, asking them to shift to some other place, he said.

Of the 35 such families here, 20 had shifted to houses constructed by the Slum Clearance Board, he added.

To a question, the official said that if the local authorities failed to prevent encroachment of the restricted area, then the NMA was empowered to demolish any constructions without permission.