No MC survey to check illegal constructions in city

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 28

Three years after the fire and collapse incident of a plastic manufacturing factory near Suffian Chowk here, the municipal corporation (MC) has failed to conduct a survey to check the actual number of illegal constructions that have come up by violating the norms in the industrial city.

The civic body has also failed to check the fire-safety arrangements in the buildings across the city.

The plastic manufacturing factory had gone up in flames and collapsed on November 20, 2017, killing 16 persons, including nine fire-fighters. The MC officials had then admitted that the collapsed factory building was constructed in violation of norms. After the incident, the MC authorities had announced that a survey would be conducted to check illegal constructions and fire-safety norms in the buildings, but to no avail.

A large number of illegal constructions have come up in the city under the nose of the MC’s building branch officials. It is also learnt that the staff concerned also failed to ensure recovery against a number of challans and no required action was taken against the non-compoundable violations.

Former councillor Parminder Mehta said a large number of illegal constructions were coming up in the city. He said, “Challans being issued are just an eyewash. The MC’s building branch failed to act against the non-compoundable violations as the height of many buildings was increased without any approval from the MC. No action is taken against such violations. Now, there is a dire need to conduct a survey in the entire city to check the actual number of illegal constructions in the city and then action should be initiated against violations. Along with officials of the building branch, the responsibility of all zonal commissioners should be fixed.”

No emergency exits are available in many high-rise buildings and there are no fire-safety arrangements in such buildings. According to a report that was prepared a few years ago, only around 2 per cent industries, commercial, educational and other institutes had obtained fire-safety certificates. Moreover, parking space is not available in a large number of buildings as per information.

After a complaint regarding illegal constructions, the Local Bodies Minister had also sought a comparative report about the building maps approved by the Municipal Corporation and new electricity connections issued by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited from 2016 to 2019. Following the minister’s order, the MC’s building branch was instructed to prepare a comparative report in this regard. Now, the MC’s building branch officials claimed in the report that there were around 15,000-16,000 constructions that were not issued notices. However, an official of the MC’s building branch said no survey had been carried out in this regard on the ground level.

Municipal town planner SS Bindra could not be contacted for comments.

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