MCD acted against half of illegal structures booked since '08

MCD acted against half of illegal structures booked since '08

The MCD, which often receives flak for allowing illegal structures to come up in the city, has acted against only half of the unauthorised properties it booked since 2008.

As per the reports received from zonal offices, during the last three years and the current year, 10,416 properties were booked on account of unauthorised constructions of which demolition or sealing action has been taken against 5,399 properties, official sources said.

If year-wise details are taken into account, in 2008, 2,039 properties were booked and action taken against 1,256 properties. The figure was 3,979 and 1,522 in 2009 and 4,153 and 2,402 in 2010.

However, in 2011, action has been taken against 219 properties out of the 245 booked, which shows that the MCD has become more active since the November 2010 mishap when a multi-storeyed building with illegal floors collapsed in east Delhi killing 71 people.

After that incident, the civic body faced all-round criticism over unchecked growth of unauthorised constructions in the national capital.

Delhi Police registered 41 cases and arrested 49 people for carrying out unauthorised constructions in 2010 while the figures were 21 and 25 respectively, in 2009.

However, in the first one month of 2011, no such case was registered.

During the period from 2008 till now, New Delhi Municipal Council received 405 complaints of unauthorised constructions, while the Delhi Cantonment Board reported 150 such cases since 2007-08, the sources said.