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‘Civic body, police played with hundreds of lives in CP’

Authorities allowed illegal construction market without checking for structural stability, sources say

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File photo of an old building at C block in Connaught Place that collapsed earlier this month
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The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), the supposed caretaker of the Lutyens’ Delhi, and the Delhi Police played with hundreds of lives by allowing rampant illegal construction in the popular Connaught Place (CP) and Khan Market complexes, sources in the civic body itself said on Sunday. Sources said that Medical Officer of Health Director-Health Services, PK Sharma, gave licenses to many restaurant and bar owners in the last four years. “Before May, 2015, the corporation issued licenses without checking structural stability. All they did was take an undertaking from owners stating that the premise was structurally fit,” a source said.     

They further claimed that the Delhi Police turned a blind eye to all these illegal activities. Not only that, the top officers heading the licensing unit allowed the corporation and owners to open eating houses, restaurants, and bars in exchange of an affidavit on structural stability. The Delhi Police allowed licenses by collecting site plan containing details such as the size of the eating house, and an “undertaking with regard to proposed and existing facilities, such as music and live performance, dance floor, bars, and disco”.

In all, there are 1,200 taxpayers (units) in the CP circle, of which 175 are restaurants and 45 are rooftop resto-bars.

During the investigation into the rooftop collapse case in CP last month, the civic body found that the 65-inch roof was built with limestone and bricks. “The resto-bar owner removed a portion of the wall supporting the ceiling, making it weak at the center. This led to the collapse,” senior NDMC officer Neeraj Bharati said. He further said that when CP was first constructed, it had around 200 structures, and now the number has touched to more than 1,200 units.

“Most illegal construction took place in the last five years, especially from 2013 to 2016,” a civic officer said. A senior IAS officer said: “The inquiry into the matter should be done by an independent body as the cover-up work has already started in the rooftop collapse case.”  Bharti, however, said: “There is no cover-up. We are issuing notices to unsafe units.”

Sources, meanwhile, said that after sealing 21 out of 45 rooftop resto-bars in CP, the authorities are now reluctant to take action against the others.

Recently, the civic body had formed a six-member panel, comprising structural safety experts from IIT-Delhi, Central Public Works Department, NDMC, and the Sub Divisional Magistrate of the area, to inspect the collapse sites and ascertain the reason behind the tragedy. A safety audit of heritage structures in CP was also conducted and 900 units were found to be unsafe and dangerous. But no step was taken to penalise the people behind these popular structures.

Now, the civic body has decided to conduct a safety audit to assess the structural stability of buildings at Khan Market. “After the safety audit is over, the defaulter units will be asked to submit structural stability certificates. There is a need to conduct an audit as some residential flats have been modified as shops and restaurants,” an NDMC official said.

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