MCD's action plan awaited on seismic zone-IV buildings: Delhi High Court

The AAP government has informed the Delhi High Court that an "action plan" on making buildings here compliant with the Building Code, 2005 for seismic zone-IV was still awaited from the three municipal corporations.

In its affidavit filed before a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar, the Delhi government said despite its "sincere efforts" to comply with the court's earlier directions, the matter was still lying with the three corporations.

The court had earlier directed the government to inform it about the steps taken for finalising the building bye-laws and for taking action for making the structures compliant with stipulations under Building Code, 2005 for seismic zone-IV.

"Despite all above exercise, the reply/action plan is still awaited from all the three municipal corporations of Delhi i.e. NDMC, EDMC and SDMC. Hence, another letter dated July 20, 2016 has been again sent to all the three MCDs for submission of the requisite action plans. The action plans in the prescribed common lines are still awaited," the affidavit said.

It further said, "It is clear that all sincere efforts have been made by this department (Directorate of Local Bodies in Urban Development Department) for compliance of the orders of the court and the matter is lying with all the three MCDs i.e. NDMC, EDMC and SDMC."

The court is hearing a petition by advocate Arpit Bhargava questioning how safe were buildings in Delhi if a major earthquake hits the city. The matter is now listed for hearing on September 7.

The court had earlier observed that Delhi falls in a high risk seismic zone IV and had sought action plans from various authorities to ensure that buildings in the city survived an earthquake.