Wednesday, 16 June 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The Dehradun district administration has sent a letter to the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) seeking the status of the dilapidated buildings in the city. Recently, Uttarakhand minister for disaster management, Dhan Singh Rawat directed the administration to conduct a survey of all the dilapidated buildings in Dehradun and shift the people living in them to a safer place considering the damage such buildings might cause during the approaching monsoon season. Talking about the progress on this matter, the Dehradun city magistrate, Kusum Chauhan said that as per the data provided by the municipal corporation last year, there are a total of 43 dilapidated buildings across the city. She said that the city magistrate’s office had issued directions to the MCD last year to vacate all such buildings and demolish them to avoid any risk of damage to life and property in any area.
However, Chauhan added that the administration received no report on what action was taken by the corporation in this matter on receiving the order. She stated, “We have sent a letter to the additional municipal commissioner asking what action has been taken by the MCD since the last direction of administration regarding the dilapidated buildings. We have mentioned in the letter that if the corporation has not taken any action on the matter so far then the corporation must vacate all the said buildings and demolish them in the specified time as per the direction.” Besides this, the city magistrate informed that she has also sent letters to the officials concerned like Tehsildars and Patwaris of the city to conduct a survey in their respective areas and provide data of such dilapidated buildings which might not be registered in the available data but can cause damage in future.
It is pertinent to mention here that last year, the municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey had stated that the court cases of 32 buildings were pending due to owner-tenant disputes. He said at that time that the corporation would not proceed with any plan to demolish the condemned buildings till the matter of the disputed buildings remain in the court and as per the officials, most of the cases are still pending in court.
