Barring the dead and those affected by their deaths, everybody loves an unauthorised construction. The history of unauthorised colonies, which otherwise spell weak structures, overlooked building by-laws, huge corruption and hapless people, is a long one in the capital. And it is the nexus between the police, politician and civic agency officials, which refuses to be broken.
Figures first. The first batch of 103 unauthorised colonies were regularised in the capital back in 1962-63. In 1977, at least 567 more unauthorised colonies were regularised — Lalita Park being one of them. The total number of colonies did not go up because all the 103 expanded — indicating unauthorised constructions continued in these colonies at rapid speed — and got merged in the overall scheme of 567 colonies.
At present, 1,639 unauthorised colonies are waiting to be regularised. It all begins at the “foundation” and is a well settled formula. Explains a senior MCD functionary: “The moment a man begins work on his building, the beldar or the JE of the building department of the MCD approaches threatening him with action. The man then meets the official in his office, where a deal is fixed. If the man says he wants to construct two floors, the official will induce him to construct four and ask for bribe ranging from `25,000 to `50,000 per floor. Of course, the local police is also paid up.”
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Yamuna level to blame?
AGE CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
Nov. 16: Water in the basements of several houses around the pushta, where Lalita Park is located, has been a reality in the past couple of months. The residents, however, say that the area was supposed to be residential but commercial ventures were being run from the basements. Now the water entering the basements is making them shudder at the thought of another such collapse.
“After the water level rose in the Yamuna’s flood plains, many colonies in the Laxmi Nagar area experienced water seepage through the basements. However, the civic agencies officials did nothing to solve the problem,” said Akshita Oberoi, a resident of the Laxmi Nagar area.
At some places, the residents decided to fill the basements with soil.