Residents flay MC sealing drive

Our Correspondent

Zirakpur, April 20

The sealing drive of the Zirakpur Municipal Council on directions of Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has been flayed by residents of Peer Muchalla.

On Friday, residents of Imperial Garden at Peer Muchalla gathered in large numbers and raised slogans against the district administration for failing to put in place an effective mechanism a week after an under-constriction building collapsed in the area.

Meanwhile, fear looms large among 50 families living in another four-storey building, adjacent to the mishap site.

They alleged that they were being harassed on the pretext of the sealing drive. The residents said an MC team had asked them to vacate their houses, failing which their water and electricity connections would be disconnected.

The residents placed their demands before MC officials, demanding the structural audit of their flats by an engineer registered with the administration. They further added that if found, they would inform the builders to undertake the repair work.

In a representation to the district administration, they sought an immediate inspection of the building. “If it is not done, then the MC will wake up from its slumber only after the building comes crashing, resulting in damage to life and property,” alleged Daljeet Kaur, a resident of Imperial Garden.

“The main culprits here are the builders. They do not procure the NOC and give possession of flats to owners, which causes a lot of difficulties,” she alleged. “We have not eaten or slept property. We are living under constant fear,” said 35-year-old Shabhnam.

Manveer Singh, EO, Zirakpur MC, said the aim behind the sealing drive was misunderstood by the residents. “The MC team has been asked to seal only those flats that are yet to be occupied to conduct the safety test,” he said.

‘No building plan to be passed till orders’ 

• Taking a serious note of the complaints regarding illegal construction of buildings in Zirakpur without approval, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu ordered that no building plan would be passed till further orders in Peer Muchalla.
• The minister also added that there would be a complete stop on the excavation work in the basement of buildings in Zirakpur and the flats yet to be occupied at Imperial Garden in Peer Muchalla, a project of Pushp Empire, would be sealed.
• On the issue of the buildings that have already been occupied, Sidhu said it would be taken up separately and there was no need for residents to panic as their interests would be taken care of.
• He further said a seven-member panel had been constituted to investigate the building collapse in Peer Muchalla. The panel will submit its report within seven days and suggest a course of action to prevent such incidents in future.