Delhi collapse: Political pressure blamed for illegal construction
New Delhi: The blame-game went on unabated today between BJP and Congress over the east Delhi building collapse even as a top leader of BJP-ruled MCD said 'political pressure' often becomes a roadblock in taking action against unauthorised constructions in the city.
Even as opposition Congress in MCD accused the ruling BJP of not taking 'any effective action' even 72 hours after the disaster in Lalita Park that claimed 70 lives, it emerged that the corporation acted in only half of the complaints it received over illegal buildings in the last two years.
The Congress and BJP traded charges at a meeting of the MCD Standing Committee which had to be adjourned in half-an- hour after sloganeering by the two sides.
While Congress demanded dissolution of MCD for 'failure' to check proliferation of illegal construction, BJP members sought resignation of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Urban Development Minister A K Walia, saying the building collapsed due to accumulated flood water in the basement which was not removed by Delhi government's Flood and Irrigation Department.
Later, in a press conference, Standing Committee Chairman Yogender Chandolia said "if anyone from MCD" is found guilty, action will be taken against him but insisted that it was being "unfairly blamed". He accused the Delhi government of trying to "shield the guilty" by ordering a probe "that will take three months".
At the same time, he admitted that "political pressure" often works in allowing unauthorised constructions to go on unchecked. "If politicians work with honesty, such things can be prevented," he said adding, he will be writing to the Municipal Commissioner on the issue. He asked Delhi Police to help in dealing in unauthorised construction strictly.
The building that collapsed on Monday night had illegal floors, he noted and tried to put the blame on Walia, under whose Assembly constituency the area falls.
"That political pressure works also becomes clear from the fact that the builder, who was arrested in the case, named Walia. The area MP, MLA and councillor are all from Congress," he said.
Chandolia also said without allowing sub-division of plots, preventing unauthorised constructions will be a difficult task and requested Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy to take a decision on this soon.
Meanwhile, Municipal Commissioner K S Mehra said the MCD received 9,568 complaints about unauthorised constructions since October 2008 and took action on around 5,000 of them. In the same period, action was taken against 10,000 ongoing constructions, he said.
Leader of Opposition J K Sharma said MCD did not take any 'effective action' since the collapse. "Checking unauthorised construction is MCD's responsibility but they (BJP) are unnecessarily dragging the CM and Walia into this, they are playing petty politics."
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