Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
32 families of police personnel living in binnypet police quarters is living under constant fear for the few days as one of the seven storeyed buildings tilted due to heavy rains for the last few days .
A team of BBMP officials along with the senior police officials visited the spot and conducted an inspection.
The building was just two years old and was constructed with Japanese technology.However due to alleged sub standard work,cracks on the walls were noticed and the building was tilted .
City police Commissioner,Kamal pant said that he has ordered the police officials concerned to shift the family members to the other residential quarters and provide accommodation while ordering a joint inspection from BBMP and IISc.
A family member of quarters whose husband worked in police headquarters,told reporters that they have been alloted in the apartment on seventh floor around 1.3 years ago.
Initially it was noticed 1.5 inch crack developed at the beam next to the lift area.We brought it to the notice of the engineers who asked us not to worry.We did not notice until recently as the crack has developed till the basement and widened the gap to 7 inches,she said .
ASN Murthy,MD,Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation,told that they have initiated a probe to ascertain the reason behind the cracks and the tilt.He refused to comment stating that the matter is under investigation.
However occupants blamed sub standard work and building was constructed in the lake bed area are the two main reasons.
The B block where the crack has developed ever since the construction of the adjacent block started,another occupant said .
senior police officer,who visited the spot said that the residential quarters started in 2016 and completed in two years and given possession certificate from the experts.
Since december 2019 people started living. there are already two rounds of inspections by an expert team conducted.
Panic was created since the last few days and the media highlighted the issue.There was no immediate threat to the building and because of the occupants have panicked we decided to shift them to a other residential quarters soon.
Heavy rain in the city is said to be one of the reasons for the collapse of buildings.In the first fortnight of this month,Bengaluru has recorded more than 155 mm of rain,more than double the usual figure of 73 mm.
“We have identified over 300 houses for safe demolition. Notice has been sent to respective house owners to provide evidence that their house is safe,”BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta,told media persons.
The survey to identify weak buildings has been going on for over two years in Bengaluru, but it was intensified after the first building collapsed in Wilson Garden on September 27. In that incident, which was captured in a horrifying video, 50 labourers working in the metro rail project, had a narrow escape.
A day after the Wilson Garden building collapsed, another structure at Dairy Circle fell. It was followed by a building collapse at Kasturi Nagar. A building in Kamala Nagar was demolished after it tilted.
