The civic authorities in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar have sealed the basements of 16 homes, including nine coaching establishments, for alleged violations of building byelaws, officials said on Saturday. According to them, sealing operations were carried out in the Civil Lines Zone by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
According to a senior official, the MCD has strictly enforced building bye-laws in the Civil Lines Zone’s Mukherjee Nagar region.
“According to the last report, the MCD has sealed basements of 16 properties, out of which nine are coaching institutes,” added the official.
Issue
A survey by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has found that at least 100 paying guest (PG) accommodations in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar area are operating in violation of building by-law regulations. The four-day survey was carried out after a massive fire broke out in a women’s PG unit in N Block, Mukherjee Nagar, where at least 35 people were inside the four-storey building. Five people were injured in the incident.
MCD is focusing on PG accommodations operating in buildings more than 9 meters in height and have more than 20 people staying in them. The fire broke at the PG just a day after 20 coaching centres were sealed by the building department in the same area in the aftermath of a blaze in June.
According to the Master Plan of Delhi regulations and Unified Building Byelaws that came into effect after 2007, such units with more than 20 students and above 9m buildings cannot operate without a fire NOC. Only one unit was found operating with fire NOC issued by the Delhi Fire Services (DFS).
The Delhi high court is expected to hear the matter regarding fire safety for coaching centers and action taken by the civic body on October 10. The issue of fire safety in coaching centres of Mukherjee Nagar came under the spotlight after a June 15 blaze at an institute, which injured 61 students. The Delhi high court on July 25 directed MCD to shut down all coaching centres and other commercial activities allowed under mixed land use in the city if they do not have fire clearance certificates.
MCD officials said that 44 premises have been sealed in the area, most of which were operating in basement and mezzanine floors. No such activity is permitted in the basement area and it is a clear fire hazard. Owners of such PG units and coaching centres said that blaming these units after the fire is “not fair” as no clear regulations have been defined for them.
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Source: BS
