Ludhiana: In a major revelation, the municipal corporation has admitted that it had issued a
demolition notice to the owner of Amarson Polymers (that had collapsed after a fire incident on November 20, claiming lives of 16 people) and a challan for flouting building bylaws way back in 2015.
But shockingly, the MC did not take any action against the factory owner even though he neither demolished the said portion nor paid Rs 10.45 lakh for regularization of three floors that he had constructed illegally.
MC officials have revealed this information to a query sought by the divisional commissioner Patiala office.
The MC officials have also recommended that in order to avoid any untoward incident in the future, the owners of industrial units should not be issued electricity, water supply and sewerage connections unless they get the completion certificate from the civic body.
Patiala divisional commissioner P K Meena, who has been conducting an inquiry in this case, had asked the civic officials to reveal some more facts about the building.
In the query letter, the MC was asked about what type of laws, rules and instructions were needed to be followed to use the kind of material used in the factory. Also the officials were asked to reveal which rules were flouted by the factory owner and what type of action should have been taken against him.
The MC officials were asked about the action taken against the factory owner for flouting the norms. And also the department was asked to suggest solutions to avoid such incidents in the near future.
In their reply, the officials said that they had served a notice to the factory owner on March 5, 2015 through challan number 1,638 as he had constructed three floors illegally. The officials after assessment of the challan had asked the owner to deposit Rs 10.45 lakh to the MC for regularization of the illegal area. But he was asked to demolish 15 feet front portion of the factory as it could not be regularized as per building bylaws. A demolition notice was also served to him. But the owner neither submitted the amount nor demolished the illegal area.
In their suggestion, the officials said that it is mandatory for the industrial unit owners to take completion certificate from MC once the building is complete. The MC issues this completion certificate to the owner only after visiting the site and verification of facts that he has not violated any bylaws. But unfortunately hardly a few bother to obtain completion certificate from the department. Therefore there should be strict ban on issuance of electricity, water supply and sewerage connections before issuance of the completion certificate, they added.
Asked about carelessness of officials who did not take action against the factory owner even after serving him a notice and challan, MC commissioner Jaskiran Singh said necessary action will be taken against the erring officials after completion of the inquiry.
