greater noida the double building collapse in shahberi has brought to the fore how flats and houses mushroomed thick and fast illegally in the village located between two of ncrs most wellknown real estate addresses crossings republik in ghaziabad and noida extensionbeset by land acquisition problems shahberis fortunes didnt turn even as its two neighbours burst into a rich realty harvest what the village has become today is a legacy of flawed government policies shahberi was primarily an agricultural village that had been notified by the greater noida authority in 2008land had initially been acquired under the urgency clause but it was then leased out to builders the acquisition process was stalled following a supreme court order in 2011 no fresh acquisition took place after the court order but the villagers who had been given compensation during the earlier process did not return the money and sold the land to whoever offered a bargain left unchecked by the authorities concerned houses without licenced plans started coming up in shahberi there are scores of buildings in the village today that resemble the two that collapsed on tuesday night sources said houses in at least five villages in the vicinity garhi behlolpur sarfabad shorkha and gulabili should immediately be checked for quality to avoid a repeat of the collapse on tuesday many of the villagers said on condition of anonymity that the area was marshy and could not withstand the weight of tall buildingsbuilding bylaws laid down by the government make it mandatory for every plan to be approved by the respective authority but in shahberi no plan was ever approved despite the land being notified once a piece of land is notified approval of plans becomes mandatory said bn singh the district magistrate of gautam budh nagarshahberi has at least 200 apartment buildings and many more are under construction a visit to the village revealed that not only were plans not approved but houses were being built with lowquality flyash bricks and pillars developing cracks even before any substantial construction takes place there is nobody to check these things unplanned construction is rampant and houses are coming up next to each other by overstepping all safety norms in fact most buildings are over five storeys which are not allowed in floodplains said khursheed ahmed a resident who owns a twostorey houseenvironmental activists also floated a concern rules are being flouted at several levels first the water table in the area has dropped by 10 metres over last five years there is no system to dispose of garbage and sewage is overflowing everywhere most of the builders have no licence all existing apartments and the ones coming up are prone to accidents and tuesdays was just an eyeopener said environmental activist and local resident abhinav kharethe land here is not hard enough to withstand heavy construction the plots are swampy and water percolates to the ground in the absence of a proper sewage system there is an urgent need