Ahmedabad: Over 4,000 houses built by the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in the Vatva area around 10-15 years ago are being demolished, as they were never allocated to anyone. On Thursday, around 519 homes in 7 blocks of the EWS Awas housing scheme were demolished.

In the latest update, as of Saturday morning, the city civic body has demolished 1,664 of the 1,888 houses built under phase 5 of this EWS housing project. This project was developed in six phases at a total cost of Rs 182 crore. Deputy Commissioner Riddhesh Raval explained that phase 5, which included 1,888 houses constructed in 2014 at a cost of Rs 55.20 crore, was affected, with 1,664 houses demolished and 224 still occupied. He added that the demolition was prompted by reports of one block tilting, leading to action to prevent a potential disaster.

The civic body had spent crores of rupees on the construction of these houses. Announcing the decision regarding the demolition on Thursday, Standing Committee Chairman Devang Dani stated, “These houses have remained unoccupied for 15 years, resulting in their decay. A structural stability report confirmed that the buildings were unsafe, so we have decided to demolish them.”

The 2017 CAG report indicated that 20,112 houses were constructed at a cost of Rs 470 crore across 29 plots in the city (Between May 2011 and September 2015). Of these, approximately 16,000 houses were allocated, leaving the rest vacant and in disrepair. In 2023, the AMC began demolishing these deteriorated houses, reportedly without the necessary approvals.

Questions have been raised about why these 4,000 houses were never allocated to beneficiaries.

Opposition leaders, including Shehzad Khan Pathan and Shailesh Parmar, along with residents, are now calling for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the demolition. Pathan criticized the poor quality of construction not only in the EWS housing scheme but also in other projects, such as the Hatkeshwar Bridge. He questioned why a private building can last over 40 years, while the EWS houses built by the AMC deteriorated in just 12 years, leading to their demolition. DeshGujarat