Old and dilapidated buildings attract attention

Visakhapatnam: In March, an old building collapsed at Ramajogipeta claiming the lives of three persons in Visakhapatnam.

In another incident registered last week at Velampeta, a part of the residential building came crashing down, injuring two persons.

Whenever such incidents occur, officials of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation swing into action and serve a notice to the owners of unsafe buildings. However, after a few days, the seriousness of the incident gets diluted.

As per the survey carried out earlier by the GVMC, 400-plus unsafe buildings have been identified. Of them, a majority of buildings, primarily located at One Town Area, Purna Market, Kota Veedhi, Maharanipeta, Jalaripeta and Kurupam Market, were identified as unsafe.

The corporation officials conducted a survey on buildings that are aged over 30-40 years. Considering a majority of them as unsafe, the officials served notices on the owners to vacate the place at the earliest and demolish the dilapidated structures.

However, despite notices, not many owners came forward to either vacate or demolish the houses. The reasons vary from resident to resident. But a majority of them say that it is due to the attachment they nurse with the residence for years, inability to pay rising rents and the need to shell out a huge sum of money to demolish the house.

With the onset of monsoon, the condition of old houses may probably turn from bad to worse. There is a larger scope for such obsolete structures to fall off following a few days of incessant rains. Residents, who continue to stay in old buildings with no other option left, however, end up getting nightmares.

Sharing details with The Hans India, GVMC chief city planner Sunitha, says, “Efforts are on to vacate the locals who continue to stay in dilapidated buildings. Also, they will be encouraged to demolish such old structures. Soon, the officials concerned are planning to conduct a meeting to chart out an action plan for the same.” Meanwhile, Waltair Division has identified 1,200 railway quarters that are in precarious condition across the district. These quarters are located in various places across Visakhapatnam. Steps are taken to demolish most of them in a phased manner.

Before the situation becomes worse, there is a need for the GVMC to get into action to place a check on old buildings and consider concrete measures to avoid any unforeseen incident from recurring.