The cause of the crack spotted on the 11 floor of the LIC building recently will be made known soon. Experts in structural engineering, who studied the crack, submitted a report with their findings to Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) on Friday. A copy will be handed over to LIC as well.
Neither CMRL officials nor the experts – professors from IIT-Madras – were willing to comment on the report on Friday. However, CMRL officials confirmed that the report was ready and had been shared with them. While engineers at LIC attributed the crack to the ongoing metro rail construction work nearby, CMRL denied the charge, stating that safety precautions were in place to ensure buildings around construction sites were safe. On August 1, a team of experts from IIT-Madras studied the crack.
The issue evoked a lot of curiosity not just because the LIC building is special to Chennai for it was once the tallest structure in the city, but also because many heritage structures such as the Bharat Insurance Building, Higginbothams, Poompuhar and Addison & Co. are in the vicinity, in close proximity to this construction site. One of the seven underground stations along Anna Salai is being built near the LIC building.
