A major portion of seven-storeyed Chennai Silks building on Usman Road in T.Nagar, crumbled during the early hours of June 1, 2017, after a major fire engulfed the building on Wednesday.
On Wednesday around 14 persons, who were inside the building, were rescued by around 8 a.m and the fire had destroyed all goods stocked in the showroom by evening.
Almost 32 hours later, the fire brigade are still attempting to control the flames. The fire was triggered time and again thereby causing the front portion of the building to entirely collapse.
Though the estimated loss could not be immediately ascertained, sources said dress material worth several crores of rupees were gutted and gold jewellery and silver articles were beyond recovery. The estimated loss is Rs.420 crore.
Usman Road area has been barricaded and public and media are not allowed near the scene where mangled remains of the gutted building are seen.
As fire in the front portion of the building was almost brought under control on Wednesday, it reignited from another floor and started spreading. Later the ground floor of the building caved in and made it impossible for fire brigade to move in.
The initial investigation revealed that few barrels of diesel, meant to be used as fuel in power generators, were stocked in the basement.
The seven-storeyed “unauthorised building” housed Chennai Silks and Sri Kumaran Thanga Maligai in the ground floor.
Even as the fire brigade worked hard, the fire quickly climbed up from one floor to the other due to the inflammable materials stocked in the showroom. The building also started developing cracks following the fire.
Fire and Rescue Services personnel had to break open windows, glass, and concretes to spray water into the building.
As fire engulfed the surrounding area, rescue personnel and residents living in the various bylanes off Usman Road had to put up with not only the acrid smell of smoke but also with irritation and watery eyes.
Free medical camps were conducted on Wednesday to help the local residents as the smell hung in the air and the thick smoke spread with the wind.
The acrid smell was due to the burning of synthetic fibre, plastic, furniture and other material, emitting a “cocktail of gases”, explained an ecologist.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had sent its mobile air quality monitoring laboratory to T. Nagar. Officials, however, said it would take time to provide details of pollution levels in the area.
On Wednesday night, fire was under control except in seventh floor where thick smoke was billowing.
A day before the Chennai Silks fire, the High Court-appointed Monitoring Committee had met for the 61st time. As always, it discussed at length the T.Nagar building violations and the impediments to enforcement.
The 62 “unauthorised buildings” in T. Nagar had flouted development regulations, particularly with reference to Floor Space Index, and therefore action had to be taken, especially since the Smart City project had been taken up in T. Nagar.
The entire area of Usman Road was barricaded and no public and media personnel were allowed near the scene.
A major portion of the seven-storeyed building crumbled early morning on Thursday. Officials also confirmed that the building would be demolished by 4 p.m. on Thursday. The decision was taken following the advice of experts and engineers of PWD.