A proposal to retrofit old buildings in the city two years ago was allegedly overlooked
A proposal to retrofit old buildings in the city two years ago was allegedly overlooked
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) may be facing flak following Monday's building collapse in Laxmi Nagar area, but it seems the city government is not sinless either. 
Ground zero: Fire service officials at the collasped building site, at Lalita
Park in Laxmi Nagar on Thursday. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan
MiD DAY has learnt that two years ago Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had sent a proposal to the city government for large-scale retrofitting of buildings in the Capital in view of the many dilapidated structures and unauthorised colonies. However, Delhi government has been sitting on the project since then.
DM Sapolia, Divisional Commissioner and head of DDMA, refused to comment on the issue saying he had no knowledge of the proposal.
However, sources in the government said the city's urban development ministry has been ignoring the proposal.
Delhi's Urban Development Minister AK Walia was not available for comments. Sources say, under the scheme, retrofitting of buildings had to be carried out in the city after a survey. Half the money would have been paid by the government; the rest of the cost would have been borne by owners of the buildings.
Three districts of Delhi - south, east and central - are most prone to earthquakes and would have hugely benefited from the scheme, apart from other areas that fall under seismic zone-IV. Officials say such a scheme would have been a boon for areas like Lalita Park, where illegal structures have come up over decades. Many of them are now in poor shape and there are no records available for some.
"There are lakhs of structures where construction is illegal and occupants are under constant threat. Retrofitting would have at least helped in avoiding loss of life," said a senior government official.
Government sources say, as a pilot project three buildings were retrofitted by the government, which include the office of Delhi Disaster Management Authority at Shamnath Marg, the Delhi Police headquarters at ITO and another government building. However, later the project failed to take off.
Jose Kurian, an urban architect, said: "This practice is being followed in large parts of the world. If the government appoints a panel of structural engineers, guidelines are followed and surveys are carried out, life of structures can be increased by many years."u00a0
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What is Building Retrofitting?
Retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes or other reasons. The life of a structure can be increased by up to 25 to 50 years in doing so. External post-tensioning, base isolators and supplementary dampers are a few techniques which are used as per the requirement of the structure. In India, most of the historical structures are being protected by this technique only.
| Ground work |
| A team of forensic officials on Thursday arrived at the spot of the collapsed building in Lalita Park. The team spent almost 3 hours there. A source said that they have taken samples of the cement and building material. |
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