Land excavation for construction purposes has been banned in the district till July 31, considering the chances of landslips and other safety issues owing to monsoon.
District Collector S. Venkatesapathy issued the order at a review meeting of the District Administration’s Disaster Mitigation wing here on Friday.
The Collector has asked the engineering wings of local bodies to conduct weekly visits to the sites for which building permits have been given to assess the situation. Special attention should be given in the case of multi-storied buildings. Stringent action has to be initiated in case of illegalities.
Report every two weeks
Reports regarding such illegalities have to be submitted to the Collector every two weeks. The Collector has asked District Geologist Sajikumar to visit construction sites of multi-stories buildings and quarries in the district and submit a report. The meeting also decided to form taluk-level special squads to keep a tab on ongoing construction activities. The squads will visit construction sites, coastal areas, and hilly regions in each taluk to assess the situation.
The controls on construction activity comes a week after four construction workers were killed when land caved in at the construction site of an apartment complex in Pangappara.
The land caved in from a height of more than 25 feet at a time when the work on the construction of a retaining wall was going on.
‘Be on alert’
The Collector has said that all officials should be on alert to face any urgent situation in view of the monsoon season.
As part of this, phone numbers of volunteers and other service providers will be collected and displayed at all offices. He has said that the departments concerned have to take necessary steps to prune the branches of trees that are in a dangerous condition.
