Pune: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced nationwide lockdown, everything went to a standstill, all business activities were put on hold. The entire focus was to curb the coronavirus and flatten its curve. Civic authorities were keeping a close eye to ensure that lockdown is being imposed and orders are being followed, however even under strict surveillance and police prowling the streets, the civic official failed to notice an illegal construction of a multi-storied building across Kondhwa.
Surprisingly the nefarious developers were able to access water and power to carry on their illegal construction. And the most appalling part is that this entire construction was done amid the lockdown. According to a local survey by a social group – Madat Foundation- there is a total of 63 illegal constructions that came up in the past seven months, in just an area of 2 sq km on the Kondawa-NIBM stretch.
The entire case of illegal construction is now being revived by the municipal commissioner, district commissioner, and district collector. The rampant construction of these buildings has violated all the norms; the construction material used is clearly of sub-standard, with poor amenities and without proper ventilation the entire construction looks like a Gatos, matchbox like verticals comprising 11-12 floors on just 2,000 sq ft of land.
This is a matter of serious concern, over the past few years, 17 people died when a wall of a residential building collapsed due to heavy rain. Earlier in April 2019 16 families had a close shave when then a pillar of an illegal building cracked. It’s been estimated that over 20 people have been killed in a year due to major and minor accidents at a construction site in the area.
According to a developer, Namdeo Gambhire, argued that the poor and lower middle- class people are unable to build any house due to inflated rates we are at least sheltering them. And post-construction we will legalize the properties.
Yuvraj Deshmukh, superintendent of the building development and control department of PMC, added “we’ve started our action based on the citizen complaints that have come in. we‘re also seeking police help to avoid possible protests by the developers. The drive will intensify from the next week. We’ve appealed to people to not purchase sub-standard and illegal houses to avoid future trouble.’’