Ludhiana civic body to check all buildings

The Suffian Chowk plastic factory fire and subsequent collapse has jolted the municipal corporation out of its slumber. The civic body will survey every building in the city — residential, commercial as well as industrial — Monday onwards to identify unsafe and illegal structures. It will submit a report to the MC commissioner after 15 days. MC commissioner Jaskiran Singh said, “Each zone will conduct the survey. There are many industries in residential areas that use harmful chemicals without any checks. And there are several others that fail to adhere to the building bylaws. Action will be taken against their owners. The plastic factory, Amarson Polymers, violated many a rule. It had permission for only two storeys, but had constructed five.” The MC will also re-verify the property tax records. “The plastic unit filed tax for only two floors and this violation went unnoticed for long. Now, MC officials will tally the tax filed with each property. For this, we will take the help of Punjab Remote Sensing Centre to monitor the building images,” Singh added.