Wall collapses causing havoc in East Delhi

* 20 February 2013: Two people, including a man and his daughter, died when a building collapsed in Tahirpur, East Delhi.

* 12 January 2013: Five children killed when a 17-feet-high construction wall collapsed at Dallupura village, East Delhi.

* 29 August  2012: Three people killed and five injured when an illegal building colla­p­sed in Gandhi Nagar, East Delhi.

* 15 November 2010: At least 34 killed and over 60 injured when a building collapsed in Lalita Park near Laxmi Nagar, East Delhi. Reason: Seventh floor added illegally to the 15-year-old structure whose foundation had weakened as it had been flooded for weeks with river water.

All these incidents have one thing in common. East Delhi. The spate of mishaps that have claimed over 44 lives in the last three years, not only highlights structural failures in the area but also the sheer apathy of the authorities who have failed to wake themselves up from deep slumber. 

The Tahirpur case in which Veerpal (35) and his 10-year-old daughter Sapna died has still not acted as an eye-opener for East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) who are trying to evade the issue by blaming Public Welfare Department (PWD).  Meanwhile PWD has stated that they have no role in the matter.

Passing the buck is nothing new but the inter-departmental squabbles affect innumerable lives - approx 1,707,725  (East Delhi population numbers, according to 2011 census).

“MCD has no role to play in the recent wall collapse” says Mehak Singh, chairman, standing committee, EDMC. “It was owing to PWD’s lackadaisical attitude that a drain was dug below the foundation. In the Dallupura case too, the MCD had no role to play as the SDM did not keep a check on illegal constructions,” says Singh.

So, keeping a tab on the construction and safety of buildings does not fall under the jurisdiction of EDMC? “No, it isn’t like that. We are conducting surveys and have traced buildings which are in dilapidated condition,” says Singh. “In our last survey held during the monsoon session in 2012, we found several buildings which needed to be demolished. We have already sent notices to the owners,” says he.

If the authority is indeed planning to demolish the buildings with deplorable conditions, it is a beginning made but what about the mushrooming of unchecked illegal constructions? “Earlier, the naksha (layout plan) of the house was not cleared by officials but now we have made the process easy. Now a property can be registered on the basis of GPA or General Power of Attorney in unauthorised areas and the layout plan cleared. This will help convert illegal properties into legal and formal construction allowed,” says  Singh. Residents will also be charged developmental rates for the colonies marked for regularisation.

Incidents of buildings collapse have been more in the trans-Yamuna area where the water table is high and soil condition by and large silty. Most of these buildings are non-engineered, neither designed nor supervised properly at the time of construction. The foundations in most of the unauthorised constructions are weak, causing excessive pressure resulting in collapse.

Even LG Tejinder Khanna has accepted that houses in east Delhi are very unsafe. He was quoting a recent research by IIT, Roorkee which said that 70 percent of buildings in East Delhi are unsafe. Are human lives less precious than the money earned to keep them that way? Will someone in EDMC answer?