M A I N   N E W S

Quake-ravaged Gujarat revisited
‘Wanted’ builders still at large
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Ahmedabad, June 1
There has been a loss of 750 lives in the high-rise buildings to the killer quake of January 26. So say official statistics. The record register adds: 60 criminal cases made out against errant builders and engineers for faulty construction and use of poor construction material. Eightyfive arrested in 44 cases.

Four months later the police is yet to arrest “wanted” builders in at least 16 cases and they don’t have a clue of where to begin. Raids at plush bungalows and luxurious apartments have yielded nothing so far. Only an ominous lock stares them in the face with the accused seeming a step ahead of them so far mocking the system which had failed to take them to task in spite of they being responsible for numerous lost lives. With their hands tied in the face of defeat and in a no-win situation, the police has finally knocked the doors of the court, seeking justice for the dead. Having moved court to declare builders on the run as “absconders”, the police has also sought a nod for attachment of their property. “We have already begun proceedings for declaring the builders evading arrest as absconders. The ends of justice will be met though the process is likely to take a couple of months before we get the orders,” explains Mr P.C. Pandey, Commissioner of Police.

He adds that the very fact that the builders chose to flee is an admission of guilt on their part and the court will definitely take notice of their conduct prior to and subsequent to the collapse. “This means they cannot evade arrest for long and will land behind bars sooner or later,” he claims.

Among those on the police “hit-list”, wanted for the 16 unsolved cases, are Bharat Shah, Rajeev Sutariya and Jayesh Bhai Shah, all of whose buildings came crumbling down on the fateful day, leading to loss of 21 innocent lives and leaving many injured. Bharat Shah, builder and engineer of Sangemarmar Apartments, is seen as a “villain” by residents for vanishing without even paying so much as a visit to the devastated families where 11 lives were lost and eight were injured, Sutariya went “missing” just before the police decided to arrest him for being responsible for seven deaths and injuries to 10 others. The third main accused is Shah, builder of Sajni Apartments, where three persons died.

Interestingly, they have all been indicted by the state Forensic Science Laboratory for poor construction and have been found guilty for using poor construction material by a team from the National Council of Cement and Building Material, according to a report submitted by the two agencies. It may be recalled that the two agencies had collected samples of material used in construction at the instance of the police from the sites just after the quake had torn down the buildings. Meanwhile, the 85 persons arrested in separate cases of building collapse are sweating it out in Sabarmati Jail, their only hope of a flight to freedom, a probable bail, being repeatedly turned down by the Sessions court. The police, on its part, has filed chargesheets against them in court.

As for the residents, another order that has rocked their boat in the stormy sea is that of the Municipal Corporation asking them to pay for the sins of the builders. A fee for legalising irregularities in construction by the builders has fallen on their lot and they can do little but bear with it.

According to the recent order, the occupants of over 9,000 identified structures with irregularities will be required to pay in accordance with the norms of the council. The builders will escape with impunity yet again for having passed the buck to the occupants once they have handed all papers related to the buildings — a decision very unpalatable and yet true. Fee for legalising irregularities in construction by the builders has fallen on their lot and they can do little but bear with it.