To prevent such recurrence, please ask DDA to revisit zonal plans of Zone E, PII and J (S Delhi II)
To,
Sri Tejendra Khanna
Hon'ble Lt GovernorDELHI
Nov 16, 2010Respected
Sir,
Greetings.
We hope and wish that the city planners would take a strong lesson from the yesterday's (15 Nov 2010) unfortunate tragedy of building collapse in the Luxmi Nagar area of East Delhi, a site which your honour is reported to have visited today.
Sir, while the reasons like possible illegality of the said structure and negligence on the part of the concerned officials is a contributory factor, the fundamental reason for such a collapse is its location in the river flood plains.
This tragic incidence also underlie the fundamental truth that the basic nature of the flood plains do not change no matter how many embankments are raised over it. Since it is the state of the aquifers in form of the sub surface water channels that determine the suitability or not, of a site for construction purposes, specially of the high rise variety.
It is well known that while the river zone (Zone O) carries the active flood plain of the river in the city, it is the entire East Delhi (Zone E), parts of south Delhi (Zone J), entire north Delhi (Zone P II) and NOIDA (in UP) that fall in the river's passive flood plain but would always remain vulnerable to flood risks and damage as has been witnessed yesterday in form of the tragic building collapse.
Accordingly we request that let the DDA revisit its zonal plans for Zone E, Zone P II, and Zone J to ensure that there are no provisions that might encourage construction of any high rises in these areas.
Sir, in particular we have concerns regarding the Zone P II (North Delhi) that was in all previous MPDs clubbed with the Zone O (river zone) and hence treated with the same degree of sensitivity as the river. As a matter of fact it is actually a part of the river's active flood plain due to the river's meander and it's previous flow. This area is also at present largely rural and is in a sense the city's granary. So we suggest that the basic character of human habitation in this zone (east of NH 1) may not be allowed to get drastically changed as it is not suitable for high density human habitation and certainly not for high rises. In addition it is close to the river proper with the similar deep layered and unconsolidated mass of sand and silt. In addition it is meeting part of the the food and water needs of the city and hence deserves to be treated with great care by the city planners to ensure that it does not fall prey to the machinations of the land mafia and that of the real estate agents in the name of city's development.
In the specific context of the current tragedy, please allow us to also wonder if the city of Delhi is indeed ready to face the worst case scenario in future? The worst case scenario is a flooded river like in 1947/1978, rain fall of 2010 and an earthquake of an intensity between 6-7 on the richter scale. Let the city planners try and visualize the worst case scenario as above happening at the same time and then work on an action plan to prevent/mitigate the sufferings of the victims in such a situation. The directive of your honour to identify all vulnerable high rises in east Delhi (Shahdara area) is a good beginning but it may actually be made the part of a larger action plan that turns the city into a worst case scenario ready city! By doing so while on one hand Delhi would be making its citizens more securer, it would on the other hand set a fine example for other city's in the country to follow.
We hope that your honour would find merit in these views.
Warm regards,
manoj misra
Convener
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