BENGALURU: After Bengaluru experienced a record-breaking downpour on Independence Day, a five-storey building in Ejipura tilted precariously on Wednesday. The construction allegedly violates the building by-laws.
Fortunately, the building near Ejipura Main Road was in the final stages of construction and did not have any occupants. It began to tilt around 4.30am, after which residents of the neighbouring houses came out and called the Fire and Emergency Services personnel, who reached the spot by 5 am.
They evacuated the residents from three nearby buildings to prevent any untoward incident. The columns of the structure had developed cracks and it leant against the parapet of a neighbouring building.
Acting on BBMP’s directions, the workers of a building demolition firm began to demolish the building but the operations soon stopped due to the lack of safety gear for the workers.
The work is expected to resume on Thursday morning. Police officials had cordoned off the area with demolition engineers at the spot.
According to BBMP Executive Engineer Srinivas Reddy, the building had violated the building by-laws. Reddy added that BBMP had given permission to construct only three floors. Also, it was constructed on 800sqft, with little setback between the neighbouring buildings. Also, the quality of the soil on which the building was built was not good, Reddy said.
A pit was dug in front of the building for a sanitary connection. A resident of the area said, “Following the heavy rains, water had seeped into the soil through this pit, loosening the building’s foundation, which subsequently sank.” Relatives of the building owner, Ramesh, said the owner had repeatedly asked BBMP officials for a sanitary connected but had not got it.
Farah Tabassum, owner of the building next to the tilted one, is now worried about the demolition affecting her building. “The rent from our building is a major source of income for us. What if our building gets damaged during demolition?” she said. Her husband Mohammed Wajib said the tilted building’s ground had been elevated using sand.
Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy inspected the building.