Unsafe buildings will be demolished: LG Tejender Khanna

NEW DELHI - A day after a five-storeyed building collapsed in east Delhi, killing at least 65 people and injuring 78, Lt Governor Tejender Khanna Tuesday said a survey of the area would be conducted and any building found unsafe demolished.

“I have spoken to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner and told him that a survey of the Shahadra zone of east Delhi, which is on the Yamuna river bed, should be carried out over the next three-four months,” Khanna, who visited the collapse site at Laxmi Nagar, told reporters.

“We have got in touch with professor S.K. Bhattacharya at the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, who will bring a team to do the survey,” he said.

“Any building found unsafe will be considered for retro-fitting. But if a building is found not worth that, it will be sealed and demolished,” he added.

Khanna said a question mark has always been raised on the safety of the buildings in the Shahadra zone.

“It was an unfortunate incident. It was an unauthorised construction and the builder did not pay any heed to its safety. Too many people were living there,” he said.

Officials said the collapse may have been because of the building’s foundation becoming weak because of water seepage during the flooding in the monsoon.