No possession of houses without completion certificate: Navjot Sidhu

A week after an under-construction building at Peer Muchalla in Zirakpur collapsed, Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said that no builder can hand over the possession of houses without obtaining a completion certificate first.

Sidhu, who was visiting the building collapse site at Peer Muchalla on Thursday, also raised concerns over the illegal structures mushrooming in the area. Speaking on the building collapse, the minister said, “The builder of Floral Vista, the building that collapsed, did not have licence or the permission to construct flats.” He added that even as the construction of the building was nearing completion, its structural verification was not done.

According to the Zirakpur municipal council, almost 50% of the projects do not have completion certificates and families have moved into these houses even as their construction is underway.

MC making list of projects without certificates

The civic body has started preparing a list of housing projects that have not obtained completion and occupancy certificates yet. A completion certificate means that the builder has got all requisite safety clearances and that the construction has been done as per the approved layout plan.

Before, issuing the certificate, the MC checks for no-objection certificates (NOC) from different agencies, including the fire department and pollution control board.

Fresh committee to submit report

The local bodies minister said that a four-member committee, comprising a chief engineer, executive officer of MC, director (local bodies) and a senior town planner, has been constituted to submit a detailed report on the building collapse at Peer Muchalla. Earlier, Mohali deputy commissioner Gurpreet Kaur Sapra had directed the Dera Bassi SDM to submit a report with regards to the building collapse. The SDM is likely to file the report in one week. Meanwhile, the committee constituted by the local bodies minister will submit an independent report.

Fresh FIR to be lodged

The minister has also called for a fresh FIR to be lodged in the case. “Looking at the gravity of matter, we have decided that a fresh FIR under the provision of the Punjab Municipal Act will be lodged against those responsible for this collapse,” said Sidhu.

Earlier, a case was registered against nine builders and contractors associated with the projects, civic body officials who gave the approvals and the then councillor Ajaib Singh. Police said that the Imperial Garden project is promoted by Mandeep Singla and Sanjiv Goyal. They had further sold the plots to builders. Flora Vista was being constructed by Praveen and Vinod, who are from Sunam.

The FIR also includes the then executive officer, superintendent engineer, sub-divisional officer, architect, building inspector and other officials involved in the approvals, without naming them. Police have the contractors and firm directors Pawan Goyal, Puspinder Goyal, OP Singla, Suresh Singla and Sunil Aggarwal under Sections 420 (cheating), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.