Taking a serious note of the incident of a building collapse at peer muchhalla area in zirakpur, the Local Government Minister, Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu today paid a visit to the zirakpur police station and got the case registered against the builders responsible for construction of an illegal building. The minister handed over all the documents pertaining to the building to SSP Mohali Mr. Kuldeep Chahal.The minister interacting with the mediapersons on the spot said that as per the record of the department, out of the 6 collapsed buildings (No. 139 to 144) the licence of 5 buildings had expired in October 2017 while that of the remaining building expired on 31st March 2018 which makes it clear that the builders had constructed the buildings without certified licence. He asked the SSP to register a case against the builder Pushp Empire who constructed these buildings. The minister also said that builder needs to get the building design certified from the structural engineer in accordance with the sanctioned plan and this design has to be submitted with completion but this procedure was not followed. The minister added that the builders were constructing flats without approval because the approval was accorded for houses and not the flats.
He further elaborated that he had asked for the registration of case against the builders under relevant IPC sections for violating the Punjab Municipal Act 2011, building bye-laws. Mr. Sidhu disclosed that for complete probe into the matter, a 4 member committee has been formed headed by the Director of the department which has been directed to submit its report in 7 days. The committee also includes Chief Engineer, Town Planner and Executive Officer of the Municipal Council Zirakpur. He also said that after the committee submits its report nobody found guilty would be spared and strict action would be taken. The minister also termed zirakpur incident as a lesson and said that now he has decided to conduct a tour of the state to inspect all the buildings and ensure that no building is being constructed without proper approval and licence.Mr. Sidhu also inspected the site of the building collapse at peer muchhalla. He was accompanied by the Director Local Government Mr. Karnesh Sharma, SSP Mr. Kuldeep Chahal, SDM Derabassi Mr. Paramjit Singh, senior congress leader Mr. Deepinder Singh Dhillon and Executive Officer of the Municipal Council Mr. Manbir Singh.