Two saved, five dead and at least six more feared dead in the rubble of yet another collapse of regulatory mechanism of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). That a six-storied building could come up in the most happening part of the capital without the town planning officials’ knowledge is difficult to believe.
More alarmingly, these incidents are happening at regular intervals and nothing seems to be done for preventing them while precious lives of the construction labourers are lost.
“How long can they hide under the fig leaf of not having sufficient staff to monitor? Whether it is encroachments on roads, footpaths, lakes, etc., it is the result of bad planning. Why give permissions when they can’t have a proper mechanism to check for irregularities,” argues a senior municipal official, seeking anonymity.
Role of architects
Mechanism, however, is there. More than 15 years ago, the Government brought out orders specifying roles of the structural engineers and architects concerned and give an undertaking for the drawings submitted. The site engineer should keep a record of what is happening on the ground. Any violation or incident is to result in blacklisting but there has been no such action taken despite several incidents.
Following the Naryanaguda building collapse when 13 persons were killed six years ago, the then GHMC Commissioner Sameer Sharma presided over a team including the then Hyderabad Collector Navin Mittal (He is heading a fresh probe now!) to suggest means to avert such disasters.
Third-party check
Besides strongly recommending a third-party supervision of construction at every level, it detailed about the responsibility of architects, structural engineers and others. The more recent JNTU team too suggested steps to prevent such collapses during construction.
“Municipal body has to take up mandatory checks at foundation stage, slab levels and make regular inspection to ensure any structure is being built as per rules but it is not being done. If their town planning staff is not equipped they have to engage qualified persons,” says a senior practising architect.
Online clearance
The very process of clearing plans especially multi-storeyed buildings is being questioned. After initial screening of plans by the technical committee, the building committee suggests changes as per by-laws yet after rectification these are not scrutinised by the technical committee, reveals an officer.
Officials also argue against blanket online permissions without mandatory inspections pointing out that “these are not train tickets to be purchased in a jiffy as construction begins after permission is given. Therefore, site inspections are a must”. Rather than leaving everything to the civic body alone, linking registrations with building permissions would go a long way in arresting illegal constructions, they aver.
