At the site of building collapse at at Peer Muchalla. (Express Archives)
IN THE wake of the building collapse at Peer Muchalla, questions are being raised on how the revenue department was registering properties at Derabassi and Zirakpur. Although officers of the Zirakpur Municipal Council (MC) and the revenue department have been claiming that they are registering properties, the officers had no answer when asked how they could register flats when the buyers or builders had approved plans for building independent houses. Then, it came to light that the building plans had been approved without MC officials visiting the sites.
Zirakpur Estate Officer (EO) Manveer Singh Gill, when asked how the flats were registered at Peer Muchalla where an under-construction building collapsed at Imperial Garden, said the MC had only approved the building plans while registration was done by the revenue department.
When asked whether the registration of a flat could be done when the plan is approved for the plot, the EO said the revenue department registers properties according to the law and the revenue department could not say how they registered these properties.
Sources in the MC said some officials do not even check the building sites before approving the building plans.
“How a building plan which is approved for construction of an independent house could be passed for multi-storey flats. The power department also issues power connections on the basis of registration of properties. If the other housing projects are checked, then one could find that there would be projects which were approved for plots. But the builders have sold them by constructing flats and the properties are registered without any problem,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
Derabassi Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) Paramjeet Singh said the revenue department registers the properties once the building plan is approved. He added that it is the responsibility of the MC to check the sites before approving any building plans.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Gurpreet Kaur Sapra said the matter was already under her notice and it was being probed by the SDM. Also, she has asked him to submit a report on the issue, including the registration of properties, by Thursday.