Slack bylaw enforcement costing lives

The collapse of a three-storey building in Sohana village is nothing but a continuation of a pattern followed not just in Mohali district but across the state of Punjab year after year. Precious lives continue to be lost as citizens and civic body officials’ refuse to pay heed to the perils of rapid urbanisation.

Is it the greed or the need of the owner for more space in the existing area or the negligence of civic body officials in enforcing building bylaws effectively? Or are the similar building bylaws relevant in different settings?

Several architects, contractors and municipal councillors said it was high time the state government revisited these laws. Parminder Singh, former sarpanch of Sohana village and municipal councillor of Sohana village, said, “In villages, maps and building plans are passed by the Municipal Corporation while GMADA clears the building plans for urban areas. The building bylaws are more or less the same for both urban and rural areas. It is just not possible to implement same set of bylaws in different settings. If you go with a building plan, the MC puts it on hold for years. What would a house owner do? He bypasses the civic body, and the result is there to see.”

Residents said it took years to get a plan approved from municipal councils and municipal corporations. “The approval is given only after the structure is ready. In case irregularities are found, officials have the option of rejecting the building plan,” said a Dera Bassi resident.

In villages, hardly anyone goes to get the necessary documentation done. A serving Executive Officer of a civic body in Mohali summed up the entire situation: “Officials do go for field visits, but they have their limitations. If a complaint is received, action is also taken promptly. But the problem is that the officials presume that why would an owner carry out construction in such a way that his own building collapses.”

It goes without saying that the enforcement of building bylaws is lax in urban areas and virtually non-existent in rural areas. It is for this reason such mishaps occur mostly in rural areas. It has also been noticed that such mishaps take place around weekends and public holidays so that the unauthorised construction activity escapes the gaze of civic body officials.

Those in the construction business said, “The civic body’s role is limited to approving the building plan. What happens on the ground largely goes unchecked. Action is initiated only if a written complaint is submitted.”

Inquiries into several building collapses in Mohali found no major fault at the end of civic body officials. Substandard construction material and use of unskilled labour or contractor were blamed for such incidents.

The SDM’s report in the Dera Bassi building collapse on September 24, 2020 (September 25, 26 and 27 were holidays) in which five persons were killed is just an example of weekend building collapses.

An under-construction building collapsed at Chajju Majra, Kharar, burying a labourer and injuring another on December 31 last year (Saturday evening). In this case too, cops booked the contractor only. No action was taken against the civic body officials.

Then there is overarching staff crunch in civic bodies. For instance, most of the villages under the Mohali Municipal Corporation are overseen by just one building inspector and one Assistant Town Planner.