Ghaziabad authorities get cracking, order sealing of 292 buildings
Ghaziabad, July 29 : In the wake of flooding of roads and parking lots, road cave-ins and wall collapse threatening buildings, Ghaziabad authorities has cracked the whip on constructions done in violation of rules and ordered the sealing of nearly 300 such buildings, an official said on Sunday.
The official said that a survey by GDA officials had detected violation of rules in as many as 292 buildings, following which these were sealed.
"A heavy penalty will be imposed on errying owners," said GDA Chief Engineer V.N. Singh.
After the damage caused by the downpour and danger to public safety due to cave-ins, Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) Vice Chairperson and District Magistrate Ritu Maheshwari had on Friday ordered a survey in the entire notified area in the district.
Following the detection of illegalities, she ordered the booking of five realtors on the charge of taking up digging of basements and leaving the work incomplete, leading to landslides and cave-in of roads and threats to multi-storeyed buildings in the vicinity.
Maheshwari directed Additional District Magistrate Himanshu Gautam to issue an advisory for the evacuation of old buildings on priority in case of any cracks in the structures owing to heavy rain.
She said such buildings should be vacated after taking the opinion of structural engineers.
Directions were issued for evacuation within 24 hours of people residing on river beds in the district due to the alert sounded by the Irrigation Department.
In case of water-logging in low-lying areas, people were advised to inform the flood control room of the Municipal Corporation. The residents welfare associations of high-rise buildings were advised to inform the district administration in case of water flowing into the basements of their residential societies.
Municipal Commissioner C.P. Singh (8178016900), ADM City Himanshu Gautam (7683045193), City Magistrate Santosh Bahadur Singh (8057425869), SDM Loni Satendra Singh (9415633763), SDM Ghaziabad Vivek Mishra (8130240336), SDM Modi Nagar Pawan Agrawal (9454416779) and control room (01202829040) can be contacted in case of emergency.
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IPL first phase schedule announced amid travel concerns caused by war in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener in Bengaluru on March 28 as the BCCI announced the first phase of the tournament schedule amid concerns around players' travel arrangements due to the ongoing West Asia conflict.
All matches scheduled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium remain subject to clearance from the Karnataka government appointed expert committee, which is scheduled to meet on March 13 to assess venue preparedness in the wake of the deadly stampede at the stadium last season.
The BCCI announced the schedule of the first 20 games on Wednesday and will unveil the full schedule once the dates of elections in three states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal -- are announced.
Besides the state elections, the escalating conflict in West Asia will also be at the forefront of BCCI officials' minds. The war has wreaked havoc to international travel with operations of major airports like Doha and Dubai being heavily restricted.
As a result of that, some of the squad members of South Africa and West Indies are yet to reach home a week after the completion of their T20 World Cup campaign.
It remains to be seen if IPL bound players of those two nations report to their respective teams in time.
"There was a substantial delay in departure of West Indies and South Africa players. It would be a tough task to get them back to India on time. Plus the airfares have gone up substantially due to the war in West Asia," a team official told PTI.
Additionally, hotels across India are facing cooking gas shortage due to the raging conflict and on Tuesday, the central government invoked Essential Commodities Act to ensure uninterrupted supply of domestic cooking gas.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan told PTI that he is expecting his players from the West Indies and South Africa -- Akeal Hossein and Dewald Brevis, to join the team well before their IPL opener.
"We are expecting no delays from their end," he said.
The second game of the opening weekend will see Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium and the opening weekend will not feature any double-headers.
A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
"During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur," said the BCCI in a statement.
"During this period (the first 16 days), the tournament will feature four double-headers, with the afternoon matches beginning at 03:30 PM IST and the evening matches commencing at 07:30 PM IST.
"Following the opening encounter on Saturday, Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka," the BCCI added.
