The city Corporation has issued a stop memo to the Kerala Land Reforms Cooperative Society on all construction activity at the land at Pangappara, where four workers died on Monday after land caved in on them. The bodies of the three workers from West Bengal were flown to their native place on Tuesday night. Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan along with officials of the district administration and the city Corporation visited the area on Tuesday. The Minister said that the accident happened because the excavation was carried out without taking care of any safety norms and without the construction of backing wall and proper terracing.
He instructed the District Collectors to ensure that all security measures were being followed in the construction sector during the monsoon season, as there was an increased chance of accidents. Complaints from the public regarding illegal constructions had to be taken seriously and strict action taken, he told the Collectors.
Reports submitted
The engineering section of the Corporation as well as the District Collector submitted reports to the State government on the incident. The stop memo has been issued as per Rule 396 and Rule 20 (8) of the Kerala Municipal Building Rules (KMBR). The first permit for construction was issued from the Corporation in 2015, for two separate blocks, one three-storeyed and the other two-storeyed.
A revised application for 18 floors which was submitted later has still not been cleared.
“The revised application is still in process, at the Chief Town Planner’s office, with some changes suggested. We have to see whether any construction activity, more than that was permitted by the first application has been done,” said the Superintending Engineer.
The Corporation Secretary has asked the Superintending Engineer to look into whether there has been any violations of the KMBR and whether there has been any failure on the part of the Corporation officials. Instructions have also been given to ensure that there is no more caving in of land at the site.
Effectiveness in question
The effectiveness of stop memos issued by the Corporation is also in questions. In recent times, there have been two much-publicised cases of construction of residential and commercial buildings, despite there being no permit from the Corporation and even after the issuance of a stop memo. The latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on local self-government institutions cites these two instances — a shopping mall-cum-residential apartment by Artech Realtors at Pattoor and Windsor Rajadhani at Kowdiar.
Work goes on
In the case of the Pattoor building, it was found that construction was going on unimpeded, in violation of the directions of the High Court, when physical verification was conducted in December 2015. No action has been taken by the Corporation to stop work. In the case of Windsor Rajadhani, the floors from 9 to 12 were built without the Corporation’s permit.
