CHENNAI: Nearly a year-and-a-half after the unsafe tower at Moulivakkam was brought down by Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, the debris still lies there, reminding one of the callousness on part of builder and authorities, which resulted in the death of 61 workers after the first tower collapsed on June 28, 2014.
Sources said Prime Srishti was given a one-month deadline from May 5, 2018 to remove the debris of the building demolished in November, 2016. But work is going on in slow pace.
The scars still lies etched in the memory of the residents nearby and the dilapidated and damaged houses which bore the brunt after the 11-storey first tower collapsed is a testimony that nothing much has changed except filing of legal cases seeking CBI probe into the incident and compensation for plot owners and for those whose homes have been damaged. Public Works Department sources told Express that the one-month deadline was issued after complaints to the district administration as the site became a den for anti-social elements and poisonous insects. Sources indicated that the deadline has been extended to July 4, 2018 following a request by the builder, M Balagurusamy.
Hema, a resident of Rajaraja Nagar whose house is situated in the backyard of the site, hits out at officials for delaying the process of clearing of debris. “After the building was demolished, building owners found it difficult to get tenants. The nearby building had six flats and all were vacant. Now only tenants have occupied it,” she says.
But the fate of buyers and those whose homes were damaged have been ignored. While residents sought legal remedy to compensate the damage to buildings, it is learnt that the State government is yet to implement Justice R Reghupathi commission recommendations to set up a committee to assess loss of buyers who bought flats in the two residential buildings at Moulivakkam.
The government is also silent on recommendation to sensitise the vigilance department by establishing a special unit to deal with hidden and underground nexus between officials and realtors.
Factfile
Justice Regupathi Commission recommendations