The home ministry has sought a report from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on the house collapse disaster in east Delhi. The ministry has asked the MCD to provide details such as when was the building constructed and how many floors in that building were unauthorised constructions. The ministry has already received a
preliminary report on the incident. “We have sought a detailed report from the MCD on the building. The civic body needs to find out details of any unauthorised construction and the year in which the building came up,” a senior government official said.
The preliminary report received by the MHA has said that 65 people have died and 78 others injured in the incident. The labourers living in the cramped quarters of the near 15-year-old building, mostly belonged to Bihar and West Bengal.
Meanwhile, the MCD on Tuesday said it is launching a survey to identify unsafe buildings near Yamuna riverbed in the city and ordered a vigilance probe into the house collapse disaster in east Delhi as it battled allegations of laxity in allowing illegal constructions in the congested area.
Municipal commissioner K.S. Mehra said the MCD will inquire into Monday night’s incident in Lalita Park in Laxmi Nagar. “We will conduct a survey of all the buildings in the area and take adequate action,” he said.
As part of the survey, the MCD has decided to carry out the survey of houses within 300 metres of the pushta. It is to be noted that “liquification of soil”, which is seepage of soil in areas along a huge water body, is believed to be one of the reasons for water entering the basements of the houses along the pushta, rendering them weak. Orders have also been given to get any building evacuated, which is found to be weak.