MC fails to act fast against violations

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 20

A five-storey building near Chand Cinema was recently sealed by the Municipal Corporation (MC). But, the civic body woke up to take action against the building only after a number of complaints were filed against major violations in its construction.

The sealed building, which lacks parking facility for vehicles, was being constructed for a long time in violation of the building bylaws. In 2018, the MC had claimed to have issued a challan against the violations in the building but the work continued at the site. When another complaint was sent to the Principal Secretary, Local Government, by an RTI activist, Rohit Sabharwal, on July 14, 2020, against the violations in the multi-storey building, the civic body finally sealed the building on July 15.

Besides, as per sources, there were hundreds of such buildings which had been constructed or are being constructed in violation of the building bylaws but the MC took no action against the violations at the initial stage of construction. Moreover, it has not conducted any survey to identify illegal constructions across the city.

In the past few years, many multi-storey buildings have come up without parking facilities. Even no concrete action has been taken against the officials concerned who failed to act timely against the violations.

According to a civil engineer-cum-RTI activist, Baljeet Singh, the MC must conduct a survey of commercial buildings, which were constructed in the past or are being constructed at present.

“The non-compoundable violations in the buildings should be removed. Officials during whose tenure the illegal constructions took place should be held responsible for the violations and strict action must be taken against them.”

In 2017, the then Local Bodies Minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu, during his visit to the city had stated that many buildings were constructed in an unauthorised manner in the past. The Local Government later introduced the online system for approval of building plans but the illegal construction were still mushrooming.

Municipal Town Planner Monika Anand could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts.

Visit site at time of stone-laying: Ex-councillor

A former councillor, Parminder Mehta, said: “When the foundation of any building is laid, the civic body must inspect the site and took immediate action against violations at that initial stage. A large number of illegal constructions have come up in parts of the city, including old city areas. It seems there is connivance between several officials of the MC building branch and violators. The responsibility of the officials should be fixed and strict action taken against the guilty.”