Old buildings give jitters to residents

​Tirupati: Old buildings in the town are collapsing like a pack of cards, whenever rain lashes. During the last one year, 13 persons were killed in house collapses in across the district. Even residents living adjacent to the building have not been spared. The recent incident of a crash of an old building in Isuka Veedhi was the second in three months, resulting in the death of a girl and serious injuries to a woman on Wednesday.

A three-storeyed structure had collapsed in March. Luckily, there was no loss of life in the incident. In February, four persons died when old buildings crashed here, following unseasonal rain. The victims’ families also received financial assistance from the government. Recently, in Chittoor town, one person, Vijaykumar, died after the roof of a building gave in.

Despite such incidents, officials are unmoved. They are not bothered to hold discussions with owners of old buildings as a preventive measure to avoid the crash and the subsequent fatalities. Following the expansion of Tirupati and the use of modern construction technology, hundreds of old buildings in the town are facing a threat.

Residents of these structures are a worried lot, as the foundations of their buildings are not solid. As a result, if construction activity is taken up in the adjacent areas, the old buildings face a threat. This has caused the crash of the building in Isuka Veedhi, which has been confirmed by the official machinery.

As Tirupati is fast expanding, huge buildings are being constructed in small sites, with commercial motives, amid old structures, which have been raised without pillars. The old buildings are facing a threat of collapse if there is rain for several days. Building inspectors and other officials are adopting an indifferent attitude towards such structures.

They are not even cautioning residents, although old buildings in the town have been identified three months back, despite conceding that there is a threat of the structures collapsing. Both residents and leaders of people’s organisations are angry with officials for their indifference, motivated by the lure of ‘mamools’.

They want officials to convene a meeting with residents of old buildings for cautioning them and to show them an alternative. Former City Congress president and Ex-Councillor Nagabushanam told The Hans India that there are over 100 old buildings in the town which are on the verge of collapse. He said poor people were residing there.

“They are forced to stay there in the absence of an alternative,” Nagabushanam stressed that such residents should be provided alternative accommodation by the civic body. “Officials have the responsibility to discharge this duty; they seem to be interested only in the collection of taxes and sanitation,” he hit out.

He pointed out the official indifference is the result of the absence of people’s representatives in the civic body for the last 12 years, describing it as a ‘curse’. CPM City Secretary Subramanyam blamed officials for the house collapses as they “lack commitment”.

He said the recent house crash was the fourth since February one each in Tirupati rural manual, Indiranagar, Nimmakayala Veedhi and Insuka Veedhi, while expressing distress that how many more deaths would move officials to act. He demanded immediate setting up of a task force to prevent recurrence of building crashes.