A blame game erupted over the building collapse in Old Delhi area,which left seven people dead,with Delhi Government,MCD and police pointing fingers at each other even as the cornered civic agency demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit sought to put the onus on MCD for the incident,saying illegal constructions in the area were a major concern while BJP which rules the MCD directly held the city Government responsible for the tragedy. "It (illegal construction) is a matter of concern for us. I don't want to point fingers at anybody but those who are responsible for the incident,be it MCD or police,must take responsibility and take corrective steps," Dikshit said. On the other hand,MCD councillor and Delhi BJP chief Vijendra Gupta held Delhi government "directly responsible" for the tragedy and demanded a judicial inquiry into it. "We request Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna to order a judicial enquiry into the incident so that the guilty is punished," he said. Gupta said unauthorised constructions were going on in the city due to connivance among "building mafia,local administration and police." "The lacunae in the Master Plan of Delhi should be removed so that illegal construction by the building mafia could be curbed," he said. A senior MCD official claimed that the civic body had informed the police a fortnight ago about "dangerous" digging activity being carried out by the owner of the building which collapsed along with another in Chandni Mahal yesterday but alleged that the cops failed to act,a charge which was rebutted by Delhi Police. The official claimed Deputy Commissioner (City Zone) Krishna Kumar wrote to Station House Officer of Chandni Mahal police station that illegal construction was taking place in one of the buildings. However,Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range) Sudhir Yadav denied the allegations and claimed police had not received any complaint from the Deputy Commissioner regarding the illegal construction. "As per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act,the Deputy Commissioner has to give a complaint in writing to police about the activity. Here,we have not received any complaint from the official but a copy of the letter given to the owner of the building asking him to stop the illegal construction. "There was no specific instruction or direction in the communication received by us. It was just a copy of the letter given to the owner on September 16 and we cannot take action on this," Yadav said. However,he said,police had gone to the spot and had asked the contractor and owner not to carry out any illegal activities there on September 25. "Police's role was limited in this case," he said The Municipal Corporation,meanwhile,ordered a vigilance inquiry into the building collapse incident to ascertain whether the owner had connived with civic body officials in construction activities. MCD Commissioner K S Mehra asked the Director of Vigilance to conduct the inquiry. The inquiry will be in addition to the probe being conducted by Krishna Kumar,Deputy Commissioner (City Zone). "Now,taking into consideration the magnitude of the issue,Mehra has entrusted the work of inquiry to the Director of Vigilance. He has also directed him to inquire into the role of builder and MCD officials. "Action will be taken against defaulting persons or the officials," MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur said. Seven persons,including four women and a child,were killed in the incident. One of the deceased is yet to be identified. Last night,Food and Civil Supplies Minister Harun Yusuf blamed the MCD for the collapse and said locals had approached the civic body several times but they never bothered to take any precautionary measures.
