Concern over collapses

he collapse of a four-storeyed building near the Nathervali Dargah on Thursday has brought into focus yet again the absence of regulation and safety measures while redeveloping old structures especially in the old city limits.

The city has witnessed sporadic accidents at building sites in congested localities over the past decade. This is the second such accident on the densely populated Madurai Road area in the city in the last two years. In September 2013, three construction workers were buried alive and three others injured when a portion of a hotel building collapsed as a trench was being dug up for raising pile foundation for a commercial complex in an adjacent plot.

In December 2007, four persons of a family were killed when a building under renovation on East Andar Street, another densely populated area, collapsed. A few years earlier, a multi-storeyed building started tilting dangerously in Woraiyur as a new construction was taken up after an adjacent old building was demolished. In most parts of the erstwhile Tiruchi Municipal limits, buildings stand shoulder-to-shoulder without the mandatory open space requirements.

The house which collapsed near the Nathervali Dargah is also situated in one such heavily congested areas where rows and rows of small and big concrete houses stand abutting each other in a maze of lanes and by-lanes.

Corporation sources concede that many of the structures, some of them redeveloped in recent years, do not have proper building plan approvals. The ground floor of building which collapsed on Thursday was more than 40 years old and the owners had constructed three floors over them about a couple of years back. It is still not clear whether the construction had been done with plan approval from the Corporation. Renovation works were under way at the ground floor of the structure when the building collapsed.

Corporation Commissioner M.Vijalakshmi told

The Hindu they were still verifying and tracing the records to find out whether plan approval has been issued as the building was old. She conceded that many structures in the locality appeared to be unauthorised development.

What led to collapse?

Residents in the neighbourhood believe that the sinking of borewell in the house about 10 days back had weakened the structure and led to the ultimate collapse of the building. “I opposed and advised the owner against sinking of the borewell. I had also opposed the construction of the additional floors earlier. But they did not pay heed,” said K.Mohibuddin, who lives in the adjacent building over which a portion of the collapsed structure fell.

Mr. Mohibuddin, who suffered minor injuries, said: “I was down with fever and came rushing downstairs after my daughter called out. By the time, the building came crashing down over our house,” he said.

The lane was so narrow that the access to Mr. Mohibuddin house was blocked by debris which was still being cleared by dozens of corporation workers on Friday.

I advised the owner against sinking of the borewell and opposed the construction of additional floors. But he did not listen.