The building that houses the Parks department of the Chennai Corporation as well as the courts of the 19th and 20th Metropolitan Magistrates inside the Ripon Building campus is in very bad shape.
Covered in dust
Exposed iron rods jut out from sun shades and the cement plastering has fallen off from several walls of the building. Plants sprout from every possible side and one can see roots of banyan trees hang from portions of the roof. The building is also covered in dust and rubbish is strewn in spots. The G+2 structure, which is visible from outside on the Raja Muthiah Road side, also houses a bank and a shop that sells chemicals.
‘Scary structure'
An advocate said she had no idea as to who maintained the building. “I have been coming here for four years now, and each day I walk in, I think that a slab from the building is going to fall on someone. It is scary to enter and looks like a haunted structure, but I have work here,” she said. Another advocate who has been attending the courts for 10 years now, said there have been times when the rear side of the building, from where the courts can be accessed, was used as a public urinal. “People have been caught and fined for urinating there. The building used to stink. Now it is only dusty and in a very run-down condition. A few months ago, there were no lights either. However after repeated complaints, the Corporation installed lights on the staircase,” he said.
Corporation officials said that when the annexe building is completed, the Parks department is likely to be moved to it. However, they could not say where the courts and other establishments would be moved
