The Hindu : Illegal basement, neighbour's ruin

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Illegal basement, neighbour's ruin

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. When Jai Narayan Garg and his wife Sushma Devi went to sleep on Thursday night they never imagined that they would have a close brush with death when they wake up in the morning. Around 6-30 on Friday morning, one of the walls of their home came crashing down due to some illegal digging activity being carried out on the adjacent plot.

"My parents were sleeping when they felt their bed shake. My mother woke up and found that the wall of their room had collapsed and the bed was sliding towards a gaping hole on the ground. She immediately caught hold of my father and dragged him out of the bed as it hung precariously," said Arun Garg, a resident of 10 School Lane in Bengali Market falling in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area.

After seeing their recently renovated house reduced to a shambles, the old couple went into a state of shock, said Mr. Garg, adding that immediately the police were informed who took the old couple for a medical check-up.

Though their condition is now stable, they are shocked at the blatant way in which their neighbour, in connivance with the civic body officials, had been carrying out illegal construction activity for the past six months.

They have already lodged a complaint with the police seeking action not only against their neighbour but also against all the NDMC officials who failed to check the illegal construction activity.

Alleging that the owner of the adjacent plot at 8 School Lane was illegally digging to construct a basement in connivance with the NDMC, Mr. Garg said as per the rule, neither the NDMC authorities nor their neighbour approached them for an NOC (No Objection Certificate) which is mandatory for a person wanting to construct a basement.

"What were the NDMC inspectors doing when the workers were digging so deep and that too beneath the foundation of our house?"

Meanwhile, senior NDMC officials, including its Secretary and the Chief Architect, visited the site. When approached, the NDMC spokesperson said though the accused had permission for constructing a house at ground level, his application for constructing basement was still pending with them. Accepting laxity on part of the NDMC authorities, he said the inspectors deployed in the area had failed to check the illegal construction work and also did not inform the senior authorities.

Ironically, the onus to check such illegal construction activities lies on at least three departments - Enforcement, Architect and Vigilance - but none of the officials deployed in the area took notice. Significantly, the civic body had been in the dock over the illegal construction activities in Lutyens' Delhi.

In July 2002 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had even raided the office as well as residence of former NDMC Chairman, Subhash Sharma, and its Chief Architect, Tribhuwan Narain Singh, for allegedly regularising unauthorised structures. "As the CBI continues with its investigation on these cases, the business of allowing illegal construction activities in the NDMC area in complete connivance of civic body officials flourishes," said a senior NDMC official.

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