PIL in Delhi High Court for action plan in case of earthquakes

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today agreed to hear a PIL seeking a direction to the Centre, the city government and municipal corporations here whether they have any action plan in case an earthquake occurs in the national capital.

A bench of justices B D Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said it would hear the matter tomorrow after a PIL was mentioned by an advocate who said the issue relates to possible damage an earthquake can cause to buildings all around Delhi.

The counsel, during an oral submission, told the court that the matter was urgent as instances of houses tilting and walls developing cracks were reported from Trilokpuri in east Delhi after the recent earthquake in Nepal.

He said that rampant illegal construction was going on in Delhi without proper planning and there was fear of buildings collapsing in case of strong tremors.

Seeking a direction to fix accountability, the counsel said "there is an urgent need to determine stability of buildings in Delhi" and also questioned preparations the government and local bodies have made in order to save the public from an earthquake."

"Existing as well as new buildings are at risk and lives of innumerable human beings is at great risk since Delhi, being located in seismic zone 4, is highly vulnerable to earthquake. However, the city is not remotely prepared to deal with it," he said.

He said that there should be a law that all the buildings coming up in future should be earthquake proof.