Poor Safety of Buildings: again takes lives of citizens of Delhi and Chennai
It seems that the safety of the buildings is overlooked in the process before handing over the completion certificate or for the old buildings which are in need of maintenance. Two buildings collapsed – one in Delhi’s Inderlok area and the other near Chennai – taking a toll of over 60 lives last week.
Poor structural design and a blatant violation of building codes had resulted in these mishaps and they always make us think- is there a value of human life in this country? Every other day these kinds of mishaps happen, and still the nation is unable to gear up for the safety of its citizens. Not only building collapses, people die due to lack of fire and safety measures. Many big commercial buildings too do not follow the norms and the Upahar Cinema Fire tragedy in the national capital or the Carlton Tower tragedy in the IT capital Bangalore always haunt our memories.
Over a dozen people, including children and women were killed when a 50-year-old dilapidated four-storeyed building collapsed last Saturday in a congested area in north Delhi’s Tulsi Nagar in Inderlok. Nearly 60 people are feared dead in the collapse of an 11-storey under-construction building in a project called Trust Heights being developed by Prime Sristi Housing Pvt Ltd in suburban Porur in Chennai.
The irony is that these accidents take place despite there being a provision for more than 17 certificates that need to be filed before handing over and occupying a residential unit. Professor Chandan Ghosh of geo-hazard risk management division, National Institute of Disaster Management is preparing a report on the Delhi tragedy, and is looking at the measures to stop such kind of accidents in the future.
Source- Hindustan Times (Delhi Edition)
Apartment Safety, Poor Safety of Buildings, violation of building byelaws, Violation of building norms, violation of building plan
