New Delhi: As the East Delhi building
collapse brought to the fore the struggle of the poor for a
roof, Delhi Government Thursday decided to expedite the process
for allotting around 10,000 low-cost houses to the vulnerable
section at the earliest.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit directed Chief Secretary
Rakesh Mehta to take immediate steps for allocation of the
houses built by DSIIDC in Narela, Dwarka, Bhorgarh and Bawana
areas of the national capital, top officials said.
They said Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)
had constructed a total of 1,024 low-cost dwelling units in
Dwarka and Dikshit also directed Mehta to distribute the flats
to the slum dwellers at the earliest.
The issue was also discussed at a Cabinet meeting
presided over by Dikshit.
Dikshit`s direction came just three days after the
building collapse in the congested Lalita Park locality in
east Delhi on Monday night in which 70 people had lost their
lives.
Over 60 families, mostly labourers from West Bengal,
were living in the cramped quarters of the 15-year-old
building where two floors were constructed illegally.
Government`s premier infrastructure development agency
Delhi State Industrial And Infrastructure Development
Corporation (DSIIDC) had built nearly 9,000 low-cost flats
under Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojna.
Officials said the flats will be allotted to those
families whose yearly income does not exceed Rs 60,000.
"We will now frame a policy for distribution of the flats
as all the construction work in the flats have been
completed," said an official of the Urban Development
Department.
There has been a public outrage over the building
collapse which had also brought to focus the problem faced by
the poor in getting shelter in the city.
The government had yesterday appointed a one-member
judicial commission to probe the incident.
The inquiry, to be conducted by former Delhi High Court
judge Justice Lokeshwar Prashad, will probe all aspects of the
incident including whether there was any procedural,
administrative, and statutory lapses that led to the tragedy.
It will also fix responsibility, both individual and
institutional, for the collapse of the building.
PTI
