Chennai: Building Collapses in Anderson Street Killing Two
A dilapidated building in Kothwal Chavadi of Anderson Street collapsed partially and resulted in the death of two men on Sunday night.
One of the traders of Anderson Street, B Meeran commented on the poor civic state saying that the Corporation officials decide upon taking actual action only after casualties are involved. A dilapidated building on the street collapsed on Sunday night and killed two men at the shed. The place being a sleeping shed, a bigger tragedy could have occurred had it took place at a later time when the workers would have been asleep.
The two people who died were present along with another co-worker when this mishap took place. They were getting ready for their dinner inside the shed abutting a wholesale onion storeroom. This belongs to the back portion of the old building on Malaya Perumal Street.
Kothwalchavadi area is a concrete maze comprising of old and new buildings that were built with no planning or respect to building laws. The new buildings are a blatant violation of the norms while the old ones are in such poor state that they could collapse at any given moment.
Residents’ complaints: Residents of the locality where the mishap took place have all raised their voices against the inaction of civic authorities. Activists have demanded restoration of the dilapidated buildings and many other old structures that are a home to various commercial establishments. If they are not tended to soon, more such mishaps are likely to occur in the near future.
Reasons for poor conditions:
Most of the buildings on Anderson Street consist of owners and long-time tenants. No one takes the initiative for carrying out maintenance work and the condition deteriorates till court cases are settled.
Tenants living in these old buildings occupy the spaces with rents that were fixed decades ago. Rates have not been revised and the tenants refuse to vacate their spaces and tenants and owners are fighting a court case for years.
Deputy Commissioner of Revenue and Finance, TG Vinay stated that around 35 buildings in Royapuram were sealed for their dilapidated state and fresh enumeration of structures is in progress.
Source: The Times of India
B Meeran, building collapsed, building in Kothwal Chavadi, Deputy Commissioner of Revenue and Finance, Kothwalchavadi area, TG Vinay
