A year ago, Director of Town and Country Planning has asked Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) to identify the dilapidated buildings in the city and take necessary action following collapse of City Light Hotel in Hyderabad.
Town planning wing of Corporation had religiously identified 130 dilapidated buildings in the city. But, it could take action against only 20 such buildings so far. The building owners have moved the court restricting the Corporation to act tough on dilapidated buildings.
As many as 50 cases have been filed in the courts. Though the judgments were in favour of the VMC, the buildings’ owners have escalated the matter to higher courts, says City Planner S. Chakrapani.
The engineering wing certified that 30 buildings were fit to use. The owners have taken up repairs suggested by the engineering wing. Many others pleaded with the Corporation that they would take up tests suggested by the VMC. But, they have not for various reasons.
The VMC officials are forwarding these to V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College to examine and conduct hammer bound test etc. They examine strength of iron, structural stability etc before issuing the certificate. The buildings owners were not ready to bear the prescribed fee. A building owner would have to pay close to Rs. 30,000 to get the certification. So, the stalemate continues, he explains.
The Town Planning and engineering section of the VMC need to conduct a joint inspection to scrutinise the condition of dilapidated buildings. A licensed surveyor, architect, and structural engineer would accompany them. The authorities need to obtain third party verification on structural stability of the dilapidated buildings if necessary. Later, the engineering section would issue structural stability certificate, VMC officials said.
The VMC issued notices under 4578 of HMC Act, 1955, section 231 of APM Act, 1956 to the owner/occupier/tenant asking them to carrying out the repairs or demolish after obtaining the structural stability certificate. The demolition notice would be issued under section 456 of HMC Act and section 231 of APM Act if the owner fails to carry repair/demolition.
