Saturday, 26 June 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The Dehradun city magistrate has sent another letter to the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) after the latter failed to respond to her letter seeking an update on the matter of the dilapidated buildings in the city. Following the directions of Uttarakhand State minister for Disaster Management, Dhan Singh Rawat to mark the dilapidated buildings and shift the people residing in them to safer locations, the Dehradun city magistrate Kusum Chauhan had sent a letter to the MCD about two weeks ago to know the updated status of such buildings. However, the MCD has not responded to the magistrate’s communication so far. As per the data provided by the corporation last year, Chauhan said, there are 43 dilapidated buildings in the city that are vulnerable during monsoon. After receiving the list, the city magistrate’s office had sent another letter to the corporation last year with instructions to vacate such buildings and demolish them but the corporation did not respond to that letter either, informed Chauhan.
“We have recently sent another reminder letter to the corporation to update us about the status of dilapidated buildings and action taken by the corporation to vacate them. Since the dilapidated buildings can be vacated and demolished under the Municipal Corporation Act, the corporation’s involvement is a must,” said the city magistrate. According to her, the corporation has been asked to take action in this matter if nothing concrete has been done so far. However, on being asked whether the MCD has planned anything to vacate or demolish the dilapidated buildings, the municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey informed that the corporation has not planned anything in this matter. It appears that the MCD probably would not take any concrete action in this matter this year too. It is because last year, the corporation installed banners to encourage the residents of dilapidated buildings to vacate the buildings. The corporation had even claimed to have issued notices to the residents of 16 undisputed dilapidated buildings with the directions to vacate their respective buildings in 15 days. Though when the period ended, senior officials stated that the corporation would not take any action till the pending cases of disputed condemned buildings get resolved.
Meanwhile, the city magistrate stated that the administration will take action if her office does not receive any response from the corporation within a few days even after the latest reminder.
