The initial report on the action plan will be submitted to MHA in 10 days, officials aware of the matter said on Friday. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been directed by the Union home ministry to prepare a roadmap for a citywide audit of fire and structural safety of every house and building in the Capital, including those in unauthorised localities.
“We have been asked to submit an action plan on citywide audits on fire and structural safety. Older buildings, structures without approved building plans and properties in unplanned settlements would need to be prioritised, the official added. Funding could be another major hurdle.
A basic scientific structural assessment of a small residential building can cost between ₹ 15,000 and ₹ 50,000, officials said.
Auditing every house in Delhi would be a mammoth exercise, requiring substantial funding, manpower and independent technical expertise, with civic agencies lacking the capacity to inspect millions of buildings, senior officials said. Since the number of buildings is so large, such a mammoth exercise will take a lot of time and independent auditors may be required,” a senior civic official said, requesting anonymity. “The final decision will be taken by MHA, but any citywide structural safety audit will require massive resources, logistical arrangements and manpower,” a second civic official said. At the upper end of that range, such an exercise would entail expenditure possibly running into thousands of crores, officials said.
How can such vital issues be ignored… First, we need a structural safety wing. MCD does not have a single post of structural safety engineers and relies on empaneled parties. Year after year, they fail to detect dangerous buildings in annual surveys. Secondly, the number of buildings and expense involved is so massive that government should ask people to submit the certificates through architects. This exercise must especially be completed in unauthorised colonies with strict deadline. Make it an annual exercise. The home ministry is expected to decide whether MCD should hire a third-party agency or use architects already empanelled with the civic bodies. The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) has also been asked to provide details of its three-year workforce augmentation plan, which has already been submitted. The department would provide logistical support if directed to do so. Delhi also falls in Seismic Zone IV, classified as having a high earthquake risk.
Jagdish Mamgain, an urban planning expert and former chairman of MCD’s works committee, said that such critical issues should have been covered in the Master Plan of Delhi 2047 . “If the government is genuinely serious about these issues, they should be made part of MPD-2047. MCD and New Delhi Municipal Council have around 250 empanelled architects between them, officials said.
Officials said any eventual audit would need to prioritise high-rise buildings, large assembly buildings, government offices, older properties and other vulnerable structures.
