Delhi: Civic issues
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Contents |
Flyovers
Rainwater projects not built
The Times of India, Aug 03 2016
Neha Lalchandani
Flyovers fail harvesting test The monsoon mayhem that has been crippling Delhi for the past many years would have been long gone had civic agencies carried out rainwater harvesting along roads and flyovers following a 2007 high court order. While most flyovers that have come up since then bear some semblance of RWH, roads do not have any such system so far.
Vinod Jain, director of NGO Tapas, who had filed a plea in the high court in 2005, said the order was issued in 2007 but the agencies had not achieved much progress.“PWD has started implementing RWH on its flyovers. While the system on new structures is still alright, that on old flyovers is often faulty or not properly maintained,“ he said.“For instance, a multi-department team that inspected the AIIMS flyover last year found that the pits were clogged with garbage. At the Panchshila and Andrews Ganj flyovers, pipes meant to carry water open up on the road itself while at the Chirag Dilli flyover, the RWH system has been connected to the storm water drain.“
Jain will be approaching the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday with a plea that waterlogging on roads can be prevented if agencies are made to carry out RWH along roads.
According to an NGT order of August 2015, no flyover or bridge can be approved witho ut RWH. PWD officials claim that all its new flyovers and elevated roads have built-in RWH system and they are, in fact, using a new technique to improve collection of water. “We have carried out RWH on our new elevated road from Meera Bagh to Vikaspuri. For the first time, we have received no complaints of waterlogging on the Azadpur flyover. We are also using a new material and a better filter system, which can collect about 95% of the runoff,“ said an official.
The Delhi Metro too has been asked to carry out RWH and it has provided pits at 464 locations with a capacity of 8,607 cubic metres. “In the past one year, 93 new rainwater harvesting pits have been added,“ said a DMRC spokesperson.
However, DMRC has provided drains to keep its elevated tracks free from waterlogging, which run along the pillars supporting the tracks and open up a few feet above the road.Thousands of litres of water each monsoon have been flushed onto main roads, adding to the waterlogging problem.While DMRC says that it is the responsibility of road owning agencies to provide for drainage of this water, an official from PWD claims their drains were made several years ago and do not have the capacity to deal with the additional water flow.“DMRC cannot pump such quantities of water onto roads and expect others to clean up after them,“ said an official.
Meanwhile, of the three municipal corporations that own a majority of roads in the city, east and north civic bodies have not made any provision for RWH on their roads. Some work has been done by the South Corporation with officials claiming that a majority of the 104 wards under it have carried out small-scale RWH at 3-5 sites each. However, most of these RWH pits are next to drains where water level may already be high enough for the system to be ineffective.
Garbage
WASTE-LINE WORKOUT
It takes a lot of effort to tuck away the 9,000 tonnes of waste Delhi throws out every day. Thousands of people and hundreds of machines are on the job round the clock but the challenge keeps growing
Risha Chitlangia | TNN The Times of India 2013/05/16
Like an army of slugs, some 220 small tippers and 1,000 rickshaw carts invade the streets of north Delhi at 7am every day to collect garbage. The hoot of a siren announces their arrival in a residential block, and in 10-15 minutes every doorstep is covered. By 3pm, 800 tonnes (roughly the weight of 20 Metro coaches) of household waste has been removed.
For four years now, that’s been the routine in 200 north Delhi colonies under Rohini and Civil Lines municipal zones. But elsewhere in the city, residents’ associations have made their own arrangements for garbage collection at the street level as the civic agencies only pick up garbage from dhalaos.
As the day wears on, the collected garbage is loaded on larger trucks and sent to landfills. Quietly, around 9,000 tonnes of urban waste is removed in a day. This includes not only household garbage but also silt from drains, construction waste and the dirt and trash swept up from streets. Street cleaning and landfill management are still handled by the municipal corporations but the movement of garbage to landfills now involves private concessionaires in two of the city’s three municipal districts.
LANDFILL MANAGEMENT
With land at a premium in Delhi, managing landfills is a crucial task. More so as the city’s waste output grows by 5% annually. Trucks strain to climb three of Delhi’s landfills—Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla—that have crossed the 30-metre mark, but with 1,700 truckloads of waste to dispose of daily, these sites have to be kept going for a while at least. To ensure that trucks don’t skid off at the blind turns, the uneven tracks are regularly repaired.
At the Ghazipur landfill, garbage is dumped at different locations every day to maintain a uniform height. “We have no option but to go vertical as the site is surrounded by a fish market, a livestock market, a waste-to-energy plant and GAIL’s plant to trap gases from the landfill,’’ says an official.
The dumped garbage has to be levelled with bulldozers. Ghazipur has six but only one works now. R P Sharma, a bulldozer operator, spends eight hours levelling the waste. He has to keep a towel wrapped around his face while he works. “The work is very difficult. It’s 8-10 degrees warmer here than at the ground level. The stench of garbage and gases is nauseating.” Waste from the Ghazipur slaughter house is also dumped here.
Sharma needs 10-15 minutes to level each truckload. A six-inch layer of construction waste and silt is then spread over it to strengthen the ground. Meanwhile, scavengers pick out cardboard, plastic bottles and bags, glass bottles, etc to sell. They are not supposed to be at the landfill but officials say it is difficult to stop them.
Bhalswa landfill is better equipped. Five of its six bulldozers work round the clock to level 2,200 tonnes of waste daily. North corporation has turned a part of the landfill into a green area. But there is no provision for proper disposal of the leachate (liquid produced in rotting waste). “We have installed a large pipe through which the leachate flows into a drain,’’ says an official.
The South corporation’s landfill in Okhla is now saturated. It rises more than 40 metres above ground level and is used to dump only construction waste and rejects from Okhla’s waste-to-energy plant. “It can’t take much load. There is a risk of its collapsing, especially in the monsoon. A proposal has been sent to the Delhi government for acquiring neighbouring land. If we are not given the land, we might have to shut down this site,’’ says an official.
NEW TECHNIQUES
The corporations are looking at new ways to manage the waste. The erstwhile MCD had sanctioned three waste-to-energy plants, of which one is operational in Okhla. It processes close to 1,500 tonnes of waste daily. North corporation has developed a scientific landfill at Narela-Bawana with waste-to-energy and composting plants. Its composting plant processes 1,300 tonnes of waste. “The waste collected from Rohini and Civil Lines zones is dumped here. Earlier, we used to take it to the landfill but faced many problems. It is also cost-effective, compared to dumping at the landfill,’’ says Abhay Ranjan, head of collection and transportation, Ramky Environ Engineers, a private concessionaire hired by North corporation for its door-to-door collection project.
Mahinder Nagpal, leader of the House, North Corporation says, “DDA is not allotting new landfill sites and the existing ones have crossed the saturation level. Once the Narela-Bawana plant is fully operational, we can reduce the load on Bhalswa.”
UPHILL TASK
Three of the city’s four landfills now rise 30 metres above the ground and are becoming unmanageable
Reclaimed ground
The lush green lawns, special play area for kids and World Peace Stupa have made the 34-acre Millennium Indraprastha Park a popular picnic destination in the city. But the site used to be a landfill before it was developed in 2004
Medical waste/ 2017
Jasjeev Gandhiok, Medical waste piles up, trash timebomb ticks, June 11, 2017: The Times of India
City Generates 100 Tonnes Of Rubbish Daily, But Experts Say The 2 Treatment Facilities Are Flouting Norms
With the number of healthcare facilities increasing, Delhi has seen a steep rise in biomedical waste generation in the past few years. However, lack of proper disposal of hospital trash can pose serious risks to people's health and environment, warn experts.
According to a report, the capital used to generate 10 tonnes of medical trash per day in 2010. This figure is believed to have touched 100 tonnes per day in the past seven years.
A surprise inspection by Delhi's environment minister Imran Hussain, along with members of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), last week at MS Biotic Waste Solutions Pvt Ltd -one of the city's two licensed biomedical waste treatment plants -exposed blatant violations of the prescribed norms. They found that rules pertaining to col lection, receipt, storage, disposal and handling of biomedical waste were openly flouted at this facility.
Similar violations were noticed at the other treatment plant, SMS Water Grace Pvt Ltd in Nilothi, during an inspection by NGO Toxics Link in January 2016. The latter said two days of waste was found lying untreated because its boiler was not working.
The NGO said in its report that glass bottles kept in hypochlorite (1%) solution were found to be capped, thus not getting disinfected and some of the bottles were contaminated with blood too.“Since, these are not getting disinfected and are sent directly to the recycler, it increases the chances of re-usage and thus the risk of infection,“ the report stated.
Satish Sinha, associate director at Toxics Link, said improper implementation of norms still remains a concern in the capital. “The two facilities have a capacity to handle the load being generated in Delhi, but the efficiency remains a problem. If the machines don't function, then excess waste gets accumulated. Similarly , a lot of healthcare units are still not following the proper norms, which may result in the biomedical waste getting mixed up with normal waste and pose a health risk to waste pickers,“ added Sinha.
According to a DPCC official, such inspections will now be conducted on a regu lar basis to ensure the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 are followed. “The minister has directed immediate action against the violators. Healthcare facilities have also been asked to adhere to the new guidelines,“ added the official.
According to the experts, though 85% of the hospital waste is non-hazardous, mixing of the hazardous trash with general waste leads to contamination. This leads to a risk of infections and diseases to anyone coming in contact with such items, said Chitra Mukherjee of NGO Chintan, which works with waste pickers.
“Waste pickers often come in contact with mounds of waste, which may having syringes or bandages with blood on them, a potential source of infections and diseases.Proper segregation of the waste, be it at a healthcare facility or at homes, is important to ensure that waste pickers do not face such risks,“ added Mukherjee.
HT Cables, Low-Lying: Accidents Due To
North East Delhi
Death hangs low over NE Delhi colonies
Accidents Due To Low-Lying HT Cables A Harsh Reality That Authorities Are Blind To
Naziya Alvi Rahman TNN
The Times of India 2013/07/26
Residents of northeast Delhi’s Mandoli village, Harsh Vihar Colony and Meet Nagar say they have now been living with the 11KV line passing through their terraces for over three decades now.
This wire and the homes have co-existed in this area since around 1980.
While Harsh Vihar and Meet Nagar are unauthorized colonies, Mandoli village, where the latest casualty occurred, is a Harijan basti where in 1986 houses were allotted under a scheme to benefit members of the SC/ST communities.
Power officials say that in March this year the department under a 2009 policy had released a few crores to MLAs of unauthorized colonies to fix the problem. As per the policy, the expenditure was to be equally divided between the power department and MLA (from the MLALAD fund). Following this, discoms [electricity supply companies] were told to prepare a scheme for shifting HT lines of 11kV and 33kV and LT lines of 400V from all residential areas.
What do HT and LT mean?
Sayalee explains: Yahoo
HT means High Tension and LT means Low Tension.
Generally at the point of generation of electricity, the voltage is about 6.6KV (6600 volts). This is transported near user points where through a transformer, it is reduced from 6.6KV to 440V or 240 V as the case may be. This is done through steps using step down transformers. 240V, which is used as domestic electricity, can be termed low voltage. 440 V is generally used for driving various industrial motors etc.
Domestic electricity can not be used directly from HT as it is certain to damage your electrical equipments (like TV, mixer, fridge etc). Electricity comes to a residence, after stepping down to 240 V and not before that.
Illegal ‘colonies’: The regularisation of
CAG: Colonies regularized only on paper
Ambika Pandit TNN
The Times of India 2013/08/11
New Delhi: Expressing its concern that hundreds of crores spent by the Delhi government to develop unauthorized colonies might have gone down the drain, the CAG has said that regularization of these colonies remains only “on paper”.
The damning CAG report, awaiting the Sheila Dikshit government’s response, questions almost every aspect of its efforts to regularize the unauthorized colonies.
Though the CAG has audited 895 colonies, the government is looking at an inflated list of 1,639 so as to expand its votebank in time for this year’s assembly and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
CAG flays regularization claims
Ambika Pandit TNN
New Delhi: Expressing concern that Rs 542 crore spent by the Delhi government on development of unauthorized colonies might be in vain, the comptroller and auditor general has said regularization of these colonies remains only “on paper”.
The CAG report, currently awaiting the Delhi government’s response, questions almost every aspect of the Sheila Dikshit government’s efforts to regularize 895 unauthorized colonies ahead of the assembly polls later this year.
The auditor deals with the 895 colonies though the government is looking at a list of 1,639 unauthorized colonies. Their regularization is a key part of the Congres’s election strategy to woo a large section of voters, with 1,200 colonies given provisional regularization certificates (PRCs) just ahead of the last assembly elections in 2008.
The audit points out noncompliance of regularization formalities within 12 months of the issue of PRCs as promised in the amended guidelines of 2008. “These amendments and deletion of sub-clauses allowed the state government to announce regularization of 895 colonies without clearance of layout plans, change of land use, without collection of development charges by local bodies…. These formalities are still to be completed by the state. Thus, the period of 12 months set out still remains on paper,” the report observes.
CAG has said the government had released Rs 631 crore for development work between 2007 and 2012 to agencies and Rs 542 crore were spent tentatively but “…one or the other basic services (mandatory for regularization according to Supreme Court orders) like water, sanitation, drains and roads are unavailable”.
The auditor has also said it has received only a fraction of all the files it needs and much of the record is not available. “Detailed status of development work along with utilization certificates, physical and financial status have not been provided to audit till date.” The money has been released to various agencies like MCD, DSIIDC, DJB, PWD and the irrigation and flood control department.
The audit points out the procedure adopted for fixation of boundary by the Delhi government violates the 2008 regularization guidelines that were further revised in 2012.
Urban development secretary R K Srivastava told TOI: “It is our constitutional responsibility to reply to audit and we have done so in nearly 50% of the audit memos so far. Files are moving all the time as decisions on regularization are still being taken. The audit teams are being provided with the documents. CAG will file the final report after taking our replies into consideration.”
The report said the regularization claims might be misplaced. The government “has declared the colonies as regularized without proper verification of boundaries fixed from the revenue department and DDA, which is irregular and misleading to the general public”, the report has said.
The audit inspection report cites the September 2012 order of regularization where the Delhi government declared 312 colonies on private land as regularized and said 583 colonies on government land will stand regularized from the date of recovery of cost of public land. But this was never done.
Going back to 2008, the CAG said, “The issue of PRCs does not change the status of the colony as the secretary, UD, stated that there was no pre-condition of issue of these certificates before regularization of unauthorized colonies.”
The auditor has said the expenditure incurred on issue of PRCs was an excess burden on exchequer as the certificates did not alter the status of the colonies as they were not linked to fulfilment of norms regarding any basic services.
THE RED MARKS FINDINGS OF THE ONGOING AUDIT
Government’s September 4, 2012 notifi cation regularizing 895 colonies violates Supreme Court orders that make basic services like sanitation, water, drains and roads mandatory for regularization
Funds for development works in unauthorized colonies not monitored. Between 2007 and 2012, 631.3 crore released to MCD, DSIIDC and other departments but only 542.3 crore spent
Issuing provisional regularization certifi cates that have no legal sanctity, in 2008, led to wasteful expenditure
Government announced regularization without clearance of layout plans, change in land use and collection of development charges by local bodies
Colony boundaries fi xed without verifi cation by revenue department. Deputy commissioners ordered to conduct walk-through surveys and videography after the regularization order was issued
Violating the revised guidelines of 2012, the government fi xed boundaries on the basis of satellite imagery, not the layout plans submitted by the residents’ societies
No NOCs obtained from local bodies; boundaries fixed without considering infrastructure projects in the way can pose legal hurdles
Metro: The Delhi Metro (DMRC)
Open defecation
The 12 worst wards in South Delhi
South Corp Caught Up In Procedures “I do not go to toilet after 5pm because it is not safe,“ said Muskan, a Class VII student in Lal Kuan in south Delhi. Her house does not have a toilet at home and her mother is aware of the risk of sexual assaults women face when relieving themselves in the open. So she has forbidden her growing daughter from venturing out after dark. Many women in Lal Kuan hold out like Muskan does after dusk. Lal Kuan falls in the Pul Pehladpur municipal ward, where 150 households have been without toilets. It is one of the 12 South Delhi Municipal Corporation wards, where work is on to make open defecation a thing of the past.
SDMC declared 92 of its 104 wards free of this social embarrassment in May , and hopes to include all the wards by October 2.
Of the 434 cities assessed by the Swachh Survekshan 2017, SDMC ranked a low 196th, its prestige marred by the existence of open defecation despite having more funds for sanitation than many of the cities surveyed.Large swathes of BPL families don't have toilets at home, a major obstacle being the cumbersome process of getting the Rs 4,000 given as subsidy to install latrines.
“They tell us to file an online application with details of our bank accounts when we don't have smartphones or internet access,“ grumbled Dular Chand of Pul Pehladpur. “In any case, the money is too little. A toilet costs Rs 10,000 to construct.“ Since manually submitted applications are not accepted at the SDMC zonal office, Nand Kishore, father of six children, like many others, has not applied for the financial assistance.
With the date for freeing south Delhi of open defecation just three months away , mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat has decided the online application system can be bypassed. “If a BPL family sends me a letter requesting toilet subsidy , I will accept it as an application. After officials verify the applicant's details, we will release the subsidy ,“ declared Sehrawat.
But the same level of commitment is missing in SDMC's offices. One executive engineer, for instance, could not even name the two wards under his jurisdiction where work on providing toilets was going on. His boss did not know names of the deficient 12 wards. On Thursday, SDMC or ganised an awareness campaign in some wards, an official informed. Such steps are important considering that many families, like those in Kusumpur Pahari, continue to defecate in the open despite adding toilet facilities to their houses with SDMC assistance.
The social problem is most visible in areas lying close to railway tracks and big drains. In such places, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board is mandated to provide community toilets, but the rail authorities have not given permission for the use of their land for the purpose.
“This is a hurdle in our effort to free the 12 wards of open defecation,“ said SDMC spokesperson Mukesh Yadav.
Parks
2017: 18,000 parks in city; 500 have children’s infrastructure
See graphic : The state of Delhi’s parks, 2017
See graphic: Some initiatives by RWAs and corporations
In Most Cases, Apparatus In Sorry State; Citizens Look To Find Own Answers
A park is one of the few areas left in the cities for children and their games.It is for this important reason that in 2015 Delhi high court ordered the municipal corporations to ensure dedicated playing space in every park in the capital. But while the civic bodies have focused on installing open gyms in colony parks, they have not paid much attention to the high court's directive.
Of the 18,000 parks maintained by the three municipal corporations, only 500 have recreation infrastructure for children. But even among them, the apparatus installed are now in a dilapidated state and can prove dangerous to children.
The onus of meeting the court's instruction has fallen on the RWAs. In Greater Kailash, for instance, the residents' association has taken up the revamp of the S Block park, where the apparatus installed by SDMC lies broken and decrepit. “We have spent our own money to install playground equipment for children as the existing ones have rusted or pose a threat to children,“ said MK Gupta, president, RWA, S Block.
After deploying private staff to maintain the park, Gupta said they were adding a basketball court to the areas for cricket, football and badminton that the RWA created.“The RWA collected the fund, we received no help from SDMC,“ said Gupta.
In Greater Kailash II too, RWAs have developed the park and provided adequate play space. “Many parks have swings but that is only meant for small children. The teenagers did not have space for playing, so we developed a small football ground for them,“ said Chetan Sharma, resident of Greater Kailash II.
Senior officials from So uth Corporation, however, countered claims that the parks were not properly manned or equipped. “We have sufficient staff to manage the parks and have installed apparatus for children in 370 parks,“ claimed a senior SDMC official.
In areas under the two other civic bodies, the situation is the same. Whatever play infrastructure was once erected is now corroded and unfit for use by children. In Mayur Vihar Phase II, Shipra Sinha said that the recreation apparatus had been changed a few years ago, but not since. In Pocket A, the park is frequented by drug addicts and antisocials. “The environment is not good, and we don't allow our children to play there,“ said Sinha.
In Karol Bagh, residents were satisfied with the state of their parks, not with the space earmarked for children. Ritu Kapoor complained, “The parks here are very small, and in this congested area there are no other places for children to play.“ She felt the civic body need to develop new spaces for children to indulge in outdoor activity.
Many parks have become garbage dumps, though officials of EDMC continue to argue that trash is not allowed to be thrown in or accumulate in parks. “We have installed 35 open gyms and as soon as we have some fund we also plan to develop parks for children,“ said one of them.
In Malkaganj, Vinod Singh pointed out that illumination was a big problem.“The lighting in the parks often fails and so people are reluctance to use the park for strolls in the evenings,“ he said. The status is similar in most localities, save those where the RWAs have taken it upon themselves to care for the precious green spaces.
Road digging
The issues: 2012-17
See graphic.
Scavenging, manual
77 deaths since the 1993 ban
77 deaths since 1993 ban on manual scavenging, August 8, 2017: The Times of India
The death of three sanitation workers while cleaning a drain in Lajpat Nagar on Sunday takes the total number of recorded deaths of manual scavengers in Delhi since 1994 to 77. Manual scavenging was banned in the country in 1993 and agencies like the municipal corporations, Public Works Department and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) claim that their drains are cleared mechanically .Still, at least 77 people have died in Delhi since 1994 while cleaning drains.
A day after the three lost their lives, Delhi Jal Board had not determined why the men entered the sewer in the first place. Water minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said no engineer had owned up to taking the responsibility , each saying that they had no idea about the incident. “We have to wait for the report before we can take any action. The contractor who was getting the work done is absconding.When he is caught, we hope he will be able to name the officials from DJB involved in getting the drain cleaning work done. In any case, all our work is mechanised and we don't allow people to enter the drain,“ he said. DJB's stand on the issue was slammed by Magsaysay award winner Bezwada Wilson, working with manual scavengers since decades.
“How long will the government stand and watch people die and not accept its role in their deaths. However, this has now gone beyond DJB. The government has to take responsibility for these deaths. Both the Centre and the state are supposed to be making technological developments. The prime minister is talking of bullet trains but not of sewer deaths. He tweets all day but there has not been a single word from him on these deaths. The CM has not spoken a single word on them or announced any compensation. The Safai Ka ramchari Andolan will start a country-wide agitation very soon,“ he told TOI.
Wilson, who has been sending memorandums to all MPs over the past several months apprising them of the condition of sanitation workers and the failure of agencies to follow the law on manual scavenging, said that those responsible for Sunday's incident should be booked under the SCST Act as only Dalits were involved in the work of cleaning drains and septic tanks.
Despite what various governments have claimed, the ministry on social justice and empowerment accepted the prevalence of manual scavenging across the country in 2015 when it said that according to “the Houselisting and Housing Census, 2011, there are about 26 lakh insanitary latrines in the country .Accordingly , Parliament passed the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013“.
Despite this, the three municipal corporations have employed 2,382 nala beldars or drain cleaners. DJB also employs beldars but says that they are not being asked to enter drains since 2014 as all cleaning work is mechanised.
Toilets in Delhi
48,000 families without toilets
Ambika Pandit TNN
The Times of India 2013/09/01
New Delhi: Sanitation and hygiene emerge as serious concerns in the Delhi Human Development Report 2013. While 90% of households in Delhi have access to latrines within their homes, 7.2% use public toilets and the rest defecate in the open.
Citing data drawn from the 2011 Census, the report states: “In the context of an urban agglomerate like Delhi…the provisioning of reliable sanitation facilities is also closely entwined with improving the security of women and children.”
It states women and children who use open spaces for defecation are “more vulnerable to exploitation”. The district-wise data shows that around 20% of the households in New Delhi district in the heart of the city use public toilets.
“Close to half of the slum households did not have latrine facilities within their premises, according to Census 2011 data, which has important implications for the hygiene situation in and around slums. The slum households account for 10% of Delhi’s total population. In absolute numbers 48,000 households were forced to defecate in the open,” the report states.
Most respondents in the survey rated public toilet facilities as poor, with 54.5% rating them as below average or very poor. Women also expressed fear about going out to defecate along railway lines near slums.
To reinforce the need for well maintained public toilets the report cites a 2012 baseline survey under Delhi Government’s flagship project, Mission Convergence. The survey on water, sanitation and hygiene was carried out across 19,683 households. It found that more than half of the slum children defecate in the open: “52% of the children living in slums and unauthorized colonies defecate in the open. This share is as high as 79% for children aged less than 3 years old. Amongst children above 3 years of age, 56% of the girls and 48% of boys defecate in the open,” the report states.
LIVING WITH INEQUALITY
17 lakh residents were below the poverty line in 2011-12 even though the city’s per capita income was Rs 2 lakh per annum
Housing shortage declined from 2.5 lakh to 1.5 lakh units between 2001 and 2011 but overcrowding continues. More than 10% of houses are vacant
56,000 people homeless as per state-UNDP survey in 2010
More than half of the lowest income households live in one-room dwellings whereas 40% of households in high income groups live in houses with three or more rooms
45% of people from the lowest income category spend 20-40% of their income on rent
Water availability has increased but 40% of residents in unauthorized colonies say availability is inadequate
10% of households without toilets at home. They use public toilets or defecate in the open
Trees
15,000 trees cut, 2014-17
15,000 trees cut in Delhi in 3 yrs, Rajya Sabha told, April 11, 2017: The Times of India
Over 15,000 trees have been cut in Delhi for undertaking various developmental and construction activities in the last three years, the Centre said.
Environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said while in 2014-15 fiscal, 6,161 trees were cut, in 2015-16 financial year, 4,689 trees were cut. The number of trees cut in 2016-17 was 4,759.
The total number of trees cut in these three financial years was 15,609, he said.
Dave pointed out that Section 10 of Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 prescribes that every person, who is granted permission under this Act to fell or dispose of any tree, will be bound to plant such number and kind of trees in the area.
Unsafe Buildings
‘Unsafe’ Old Delhiwallas live in fear and hope
Survey On Unsafe Buildings Pending, No Repairs This Year
Maria Akram TNN The Times of India
Every year, the corporations carry out a survey before monsoon to identify unstable structures and get them repaired. In 2012 the corporation pointed out some 160 dangerous buildings in the city.
North Delhi Municipal Corporation says the guidelines are very clear, and residents should file complaints against officials who demand money. “Repair includes patchwork, mending the ceiling, whitewash or changing the windows. But one cannot extend the height of the structure. There have been complaints of people carrying out construction in the name of repair.”
Officials say over 200 buildings in Walled City area and around 70 in Paharganj are not deemed safe but only 27 dangerous buildings have been strengthened in the past few years. Officials say most of the dangerous buildings are private properties. They claim to have issued several eviction notices but put the onus of repairs on the owner. “In 2012, 25,785 properties were surveyed in the Walled City and 47 were declared ‘very dangerous’. We issued notices but the owners are responsible for demolishing the portions. If the building is marked as ‘very dangerous’, we raze the portions and the owners are supposed to remove the remaining structure,” said a North Corporation official.
According to the figures by the National Crime Records Bureau, Delhi has experienced maximum damage by collapse of structures, falling under unnatural accidents, among 53 cities. In 2011, 68 cases of collapse were reported, claiming 60 lives and leaving 75 people injured. This raises serious questions about the capital’s readiness for vertical gr owth.
After the Lalita Park building collapse in 2010, then unified MCD, along with the National Institute of Disaster Management, conducted a large-scale survey in the trans-Yamuna area to pinpoint the unsafe buildings. The survey report was never tabled. After the collapse, action has been taken against 96 properties, say officials.
“Rampant illegal construction has not only cluttered areas but also weakened the existing structures. The walls of many houses have developed cracks and their foundation has become shaky,” said Sanjeev Sehgal, member of Ramesh Nagar RWA, east Delhi.
WITHERING HEIGHTS
Every year municipal corporations have to carry out a survey to identify dangerous buildings in the capital
1n 2012, corporations identified around 160 dangerous buildings
Officials say there are over 200 dilapidated buildings in Walled City and over 70 in Paharganj alone
Under Delhi building bylaws 1983, no alteration can be made to a residential building after the building plan is sanctioned by corporation. For any change in basic structure, a new building plan has to be submitted; otherwise it will be seen as unauthorized construction
CHANGES ALLOWED
Plastering and patch repair
Replacing fallen bricks, stones, pillars, beams, etc
Reconstruction of portions of building damaged by rain, fire or any other natural calamity to the same extent and specification as existed prior to damage
Erection or re-erection of internal partition provided it is within purview of bylaws
Building norms, fire safety certificates, some accidents
Somreet Bhattacharya, 1980s' norms fail to keep buildings safe , May 11, 2017: The Times of India
High-rises in Lutyens Delhi were mostly built in compliance with the building norms of 1980s. But with changes in the layouts, the designs have become outdated as far as present safety measures are concerned.
The consecutive fires at Antriksh Bhawan has left the fire officials worried. Officials said that most of the blazes in these high-rises are caused due to the exposed wirings in the building, which were built according to the norms of the time they were erected. While all of them had clearances from the fire department while being constructed, most were not renewed.
Under the new rules, the fire safety certificate issued is valid for 5 years for residential buildings (other than hotels) and 3 years for non-residential buildings, including hotels from date of issue. Officials said that a fire clearance certificate is not a guarantee that the building will never meet with an acci dent, it just means that a reasonable fire safety measure has been taken. It also depends on the maintenance of the building, they said.
“Under DFS rules 2010 of Delhi Fire Service Act 2007, the occupier of the building or premises, as the case may be, should maintain the fire prevention and safety measures provided in the building or premises at all times,“ said chief fire officer Atul Garg. The department conducts regular surveys on safety of these building, but said that there have been no changes in the structures built on the basis of norms of 1980s.
Almost all cinema halls, guest houses, big malls and high-rise buildings in the city have been issued an NOC by the department.
Waterlogging/ flooded roads
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