BENGALURU: Altogether 31 paying guests of a five-storey building in Hebbal Kempapura had a harrowing time on Wednesday when the building tilted. The occupants of the building are employees of a private company and students, who have been staying in the building for the past two years. A senior police officer of Amruthahalli police station said that the incident happened at 7.30 am, when the occupants heard a loud cracking noise and rushed out of the building. One of the occupants alerted the fire and emergency personnel.
The building belongs to one Rahul, a local. The PG is being run by one Tulasi, who has taken the building on lease. The residents of houses located near the building were asked to stay away from the street in case the building collapsed.Beemashankar Guled, DCP (North-East), said that the occupants of 35 buildings in the vicinity were evacuated and rehabilitation centres had been arranged at government school and hospitals in Amrutahalli.
It is said that two days ago, a borewell had been sunk on an adjacent site. Rahul had warned the site owner, Babu, that it would affect the PG. However, Babu did not heed him. So Tulasi filed a police complaint against Babu. Speaking to TNIE, Bharath Kumar, one of the occupants said, “We left all our belongings in the room and rushed out barefoot. Our bikes are parked in the basement. We saw cracks in the wall and we informed Rahul, who said he would take a look on Wednesday afternoon.”
Kumar and some others did not have the money to buy food as they had left everything behind. He said that Rahul had arranged four rooms for the occupants in an apartment building nearby. “It is very difficult for us in these rooms. We had just paid our rent this month,” he added.
Foundation unstable due to borewell
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner B H Anil Kumar and the Mayor visited the building. The commissioner told TNIE that the building tilted as the foundation became unstable due to the borewell. The BBMP has filed a complaint against Babu and Rahul as they did not have all the required permissions