00:00Another fire tragedy, another dozen deaths and once again the question of municipal authorities
00:06and unauthorized construction is back in the headlines. This time in Lucknow where now the
00:12SIT seems to say that the building was supposed to be demolished 10 years ago for unauthorized
00:20construction. If you look from the Uphar case in the 90s till today when the Lucknow fire
00:27tragedy has happened. Courts have repeatedly pointed out that death due to negligence is
00:34something that the owner of the building must be held liable for. But again and again we
00:40see that the owner does get charged but the case goes nowhere. So what is it that people
00:46must know about when it comes to the law?
00:52You need several certificates, NOCs and authorities to sign off on it. The first thing that a
01:00building must have is a sanctioned building plan. What does that mean? That whoever is constructing
01:07the building, the owner has to get the local municipal authority to sign off on the building
01:13plan. Which means how many rooms, how many floors, what kind of additions, what kind
01:19of extensions. All of that. Balconies, windows, everything. And even positioning of the kitchen
01:26or any other utility. Everything has to be in the sanctioned building plan that the architect
01:32of that building gives to the municipal authorities and then they come inspect and sign off on it.
01:38Under municipal laws, the authorities are supposed to keep an eye on the construction that is going
01:45on in their area. Whether it is the junior engineer of that area, whether it is the beat
01:50constable, the responsibility is of the lowest official who is on the ground to note if there is any
01:59unauthorized construction going on. What is happening in this Lucknow case? This building was supposed
02:03to be demolished 10 years ago because they violated the sanctioned building plan and they added floors
02:10to this building. All of these things have to be checked by the municipal authorities, by the fire
02:15authorities, by the police even before these NOCs are given. For us and for the people who've died in
02:23these tragedies, none of it is done. And the unfortunate reality is that despite the Supreme
02:30Court's orders and the municipal laws, whether it is Uphar or the Lucknow building now, authorities
02:38across the board seem to be failing in their tasks. And the people who construct these buildings,
02:44who own these buildings and who get rent from the tenants do not care.
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