Buildings in cities are collapsing with depressing regularity, and
precious lives are being lost. Two recent tragic incidents have yet again raised
the issues of safety and accountability in building construction. On June 28, on
the outskirts of Chennai, an 11-storey
building under construction collapsed, and some 61 people died. In Delhi, a
four-storied
building crumbled and 10 persons including five children lost their lives.
In the Chennai incident, the promoter of the apartment project blamed a
lightning strike for the tragedy, but State agencies, builders’ organisations
and architect groups pointed to poor design, non-compliance with rules and
negligence as the reasons. The police arrested six persons including the
developer, the architect and the engineer. The Tamil Nadu government has
appointed a one-man
commission headed by a retired High Court Judge to investigate the incident
and suggest measures to prevent such calamities in future. In the case of the
Delhi incident, survivors had complained that construction work nearby had
weakened the foundation. The Municipal Corporation, the reports indicate,
ignored their protests. In a delayed reaction, the Corporation has suspended the
engineers in charge until enquiries are completed. Every time such accidents
occur, the state rushes forth to form committees and enacts new rules, only to
ignore them later. Nothing has improved the situation on the ground, and the
lessons have hardly been learnt.
The issue is not that of insufficient regulatory systems or safety
standards, but that of non-compliance. For instance, in Chennai, building
approval procedures for multi-storied buildings clearly mandate that the
regulatory authorities verify soil analysis reports, structural drawings,
stability certificates and design drawings before issuing approvals. Had the
officials diligently scrutinised the drawings and the data, they could have
detected the inadequacies, if any, even before construction commenced. Periodic
inspection of buildings would have helped spot deviations and other problems at
the construction stage. In Delhi, had the Corporation acted on residents’
complaints and taken prompt action, lives would have been saved. The need of the
hour is to review and rigorously implement the existing rules. Frequent
regularisation of unauthorised constructions have emboldened violators and
eroded the compliance culture. Lack of transparency in approval processes,
discretionary exemptions, and slack inspections have put the interests of many
apartment-buyers in peril. Construction workers often bear the worst of the
effects, and lose lives and limbs. Safety measures at construction sites and
compliance with design standards are not matters that are up for negotiation. We
need a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to unsafe building practices.
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