Urban News

Hindustan Times  05.12.2010

Delhi residents, beware. If your construction is illegal, the MCD will demolish it. And it will make you pay for the demolition, too. Residents whose properties are being partially or fully demolished during the ongoing demolition drive will now have to pay the charges. Interestingly, the demolition charges shall be collected before the building is demolished.

After the Lalita Park building collapse on November 15 in which 70 people were killed and 80 injured, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s demolition squad has been razing all dangerous and illegal buildings in the city.

On an average a property owner whose building is completely demolished by the MCD will have to pay anything between Rs 50,000-1 lakh depending on the hours spent by the squad.

The civic body said they have rented most of the equipment such as bulldozers; trucks for the demolition drive and that has cost them a huge amount. Hourly charges are being levied by the MCD depending upon the machinery and manpower used in the demolition. “The MCD’s demolition squad spends hours demolishing unauthorised constructions. We also deploy heavy machinery and naturally money would be charged for it,” said Yogender Chandolia, chairman of the MCD’s standing committee.

According to the civic agency, on an average it takes at least two days to completely raze a three-storey building. “It takes four hours to demolish a floor normally. But many a times we don’t have adequate force which delays the action,” added the official.

In case property owners refuse to pay up, the civic body will attach the demolition charges with their property tax.

There are a large number of illegal buildings in unauthorised regularised colonies. These buildings will be completely razed by the MCD. “There are a number of unauthorised regularised colonies such as Laxmi Nagar, Lalita Park, Krishna Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar, Model Town, Badarpur where many people have constructed buildings without getting the building plan sanctioned. In such cases we will have to demolish them completely,” added the official.

However, the residents claim these illegal structures have come up in connivance with the MCD officials so many should not be charged. “I bought a flat from a builder a few years back. I wasn’t aware that the building didn’t have a building plan. I have been duped as my building will be demolished and on top of that they want me to pay for it too?” said a resident of Krishna Nagar extension.

The civic agency claims that last year, too, they had asked property owners to pay the demolition charges but the civic agency’s political wing was apprehensive in charging money from people ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections that were held last year.