CUTTACK: A woman and her family had a narrow escape on Thursday evening after a portion of the roof of their old house collapsed in Ranihat’s Mali Sahi.
This is not an isolated incident. A series of such occurrences in recent years has exposed a growing crisis in the millennium city, which is dotted with numerous unsafe buildings, both private and government-owned.
Despite repeated warnings and accidents, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) is yet to take concrete action. Several private buildings in Pension Lane, Nimchouri, Buxi Bazar, Jhanjir Mangala, Bhandari Sahi near Firingi Bazar and Choudhury Bazar have been flagged as unsafe.
Government structures, including Ravenshaw Girls’ High School, Mission School, Badambadi CESU Colony, Municipality Colony in Jobra, Railway Quarters at Pareswar Sahi and the old building of the Cuttack Municipality office have also been declared dangerous but remain standing.
Experts warn that in the event of a major mishap, narrow lanes in these congested localities would severely hamper rescue operations. A similar tragedy occurred in 2010 when 60 people died in a building collapse in Delhi. In its aftermath, the CMC had announced a citywide survey to identify unsafe buildings, but the plan never moved beyond the announcement. Again in 2019, the CMC pledged to carry out the survey through a dedicated team. But, six years later, no data has been collected.
“The situation is appalling. If the civic body cannot demolish its own declared unsafe buildings, how can one expect it to act against private structures?” questioned a city-based lawyer.
CMC mayor Subhas Singh has assured that the civic body will soon initiate a comprehensive survey to identify unsafe structures by forming a special team and take steps for their demolition.