Authorities waiting for building collapse in Doon to vacate condemned buildings?
Wednesday, 28 July 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Ignoring the risk dilapidated buildings pose to human lives and property during the monsoon due to the vulnerability of weak structures, the Dehradun district administration and the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) continue to pass the buck on the matter. Since last year, district administration and MCD have claimed to be working towards vacating and demolishing condemned buildings in the city but nothing is actually noticeable at ground level. Last month, Disaster Management minister Dhan Singh Rawat had directed the district administration to mark all the dilapidated buildings in Dehradun and shift the people to safer locations in view of the monsoon season. The city magistrate’s office sent multiple letters to the corporation to take action on condemned structures but nothing has been done so far. Authorities are not taking any concrete decision to evacuate the vulnerable dilapidated buildings in view of any possible accidents as usual despite the State meteorological centre’s forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall with intense spells at isolated places in the district till July 30.
According to city magistrate Kusum Chauhan, demolition of these structures occurs under the municipal corporation as per the laws and the administration has directed the corporation to take action. On the other hand, municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey has stated repeatedly that they are not planning to demolish any dilapidated structure in the city as most of the buildings are stuck in court cases due to owner-tenant disputes.
On the question of who will be responsible for the damage of lives and property if any of these structures collapse during heavy rain, the municipal officials informed they have asked the people residing there to evacuate the building but the demolition of these structures is not on the cards yet. Responding to the same query, the city magistrate said that the administration has directed the MCD to take action and the municipal officials have assured that they are working on it. The additional municipal commissioner, MS Barnia stated on this that they have marked the condemned buildings again after administration’s letter but he is not aware of any plan to demolish them. One senior official even said that if the district administration wishes, it can take MCD’s resources and team to demolish the condemned buildings but the corporation is not planning to do any such thing anytime soon. It appears that both the authorities are waiting for a big accident to happen in the city as a wakeup call which might happen soon if the authorities continue to pass the buck rather than taking concrete actions.
