CHENNAI: A status report filed before the Madras High Court has revealed that the 11-storey building in Moulivakkam, which collapsed killing 61 persons and injuring 27 others on June 28, was in a highly precarious condition and the collapse could have been triggered anytime without any additional loading. Rain, light wind or even very light tremor could have forced the building to crash. “Calculations clearly show that the building was waiting to fall,” the status report, filed before the first bench of Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, said on Thursday. The report was filed in response to a PIL from DMK MLA M K Stalin praying for a CBI probe into the incident.
The government had constituted a special investigation team of experts from the fields of structural engineering, architecture and soil mechanics. The experts were from IIT (Madras) and Anna University. According to the collective opinions of the experts, the raft foundation was inadequate to bear the total load of the building. The investigation disclosed that the foundation was inadequate for stable construction. The column designs could also not withstand the dead weight of such a heavy structure. In addition, the builders removed several columns from the basement to create more parking space. The iron rods used in the columns and beams were not tied properly as per the guidelines prescribed in the National Building Code.
The CMDA in its report said one row of columns had not been constructed while the position and orientation of some others were changed with reference to the approved plan. The execution of the work was also not properly done as the builders had engaged inexperienced site engineers. The building collapsed due to failure in the structural design and poor execution of work, it concluded.
Meanwhile, the petitioner filed an additional affidavit to stay all further proceedings pursuance to the chargesheet filed in the case before the Judicial Magistrate in Sriperumbudur.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing on October 13.