So far, MCD has surveyed only 37% buildings

Less than a month before the arrival of the monsoon, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is severely lagging behind in its annual pre-monsoon survey of dangerous buildings with only 36.9% of the targeted structures covered as of May 23, officials aware of the exercise said on Wednesday.

- Paras Singh

NEW DELHI:

According to MCD records, of the 2.83 million buildings scheduled to be surveyed this year, only 1,045,814 have been inspected so far. The progress report, a copy of which has been seen by HT, shows MCD will now have to cover 1.78 million houses in just 22 days - or a whopping 81,000 houses a day - to meet its June 15 deadline.

Even more surprisingly, the civic agency has yet to declare a single building "dangerous," raising serious questions about the effectiveness of the exercise. The survey, which is meant to identify structurally vulnerable buildings at risk of collapsing during the rains, has long been criticised for being more symbolic than preventive.