Building collapse: No action against illegal constructions in Gurugram
GURUGRAM: Less than three months after a building collapsed in Ullahawas village claiming the lives of seven people, another building collapsed in Sector 13 on late Thursday night, raising questions about lack of action taken by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) against illegal structures in the city.
MCG officials, however, have been posing the same questions to their engineering wing over the last four months.
This has led to the issuance of show cause notices, registration of charge sheets, and even a recommendation for a complete overhaul of MCG staff.
In the aftermath of the building collapse in Ullahawas, the MCG was directed by the district administration to carry out a safety audit of all structures located within its jurisdiction. However, squabbles amid officials within the MCG ensured that the survey was never conducted, while very little was done to curb unauthorised constructions.
During the four-month period between the collapse of the buildsheet ing in Ullahawas and the one on Thursday, the MCG was caught up internally, looking for possible reasons for the rampant growth of illegal constructions in the city.
Meanwhile, the civic agency’s social media pages, the CM window and the agency’s own helpline number were flooded with complaints against illegal constructions, especially in areas such as DLF Phase-3, Nathupur, Jharsa, and parts of old Gurugram.
After receiving such complaints of inaction against unauthorised constructions, MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav issued show cause notices to all staff members of the engineering wing on March 31.
Yadav also directed all staff members to list in writing the action they had taken against illegal constructions over the last 12 months.
Three days later, Yadav sent a recommendation to the Haryana government for filing a charge against two executive engineers for their laxity in taking action against illegal constructions.
On January 16, Vivek Kalia, the then joint commissioner of the MCG wrote a letter to Yadav, recommending a complete overhaul of outsourced employees in the enforcement wing.
In his letter, Kalia recommended that the MCG should remove all the outsourced employees in the enforcement wing as they had repeatedly failed to take action against illegal constructions, despite repeated reminders. He further stated that no records were found of sealed and demolished buildings, and there was no update on their current status.
Yadav, when asked about the issue, said, “The former joint commissioner and I had a verbal discussion regarding the matter. I left the decision to him to submit a formal recommendation to the state government, if he so desired. I am against shuffling or transferring employees, as I feel an official needs to be given three to four years in a position to make a difference. Provided he or she fails to deliver, then necessary action should be initiated.”