Old, dilapidated buildings on verge of collapse

BATHINDA: Patchy walls doors and windows locked forcibly parapets ready to fall off beams showing and narrating a tale of the conditions they have weathered this is the common view of old and dilapidated buildings which dot the roads and streets of Sirki Bazar Sadar Bazar and Mall Godam Road in the city

Updated At : 05:33 AM Sep 02, 2017 IST

An old building in Sadar Bazaar in Bathinda. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 1

Patchy walls, doors and windows locked forcibly, parapets ready to fall off, beams showing and narrating a tale of the conditions they have weathered – this is the common view of old and dilapidated buildings, which dot the roads and streets of Sirki Bazar, Sadar Bazar and Mall Godam Road in the city.

The unfortunate incident wherein more than 24 persons died after an old unsafe building collapsed in Mumbai due to heavy rains has failed to make the Municipal Corporation Bathinda and the Public Works Department sit up and take note of the buildings, which are dilapidated and need to be demolished before these cave in.

MCB, PWD pass the buck

A major impediment in the way of demolition of these buildings is the fact that the officials of the MCB and PWD are not clear under whose jurisdiction the work of conducting a survey of such buildings and demolition falls.

As a result of this confusion, there exists no list of buildings that have been identified as unsafe, old and posing a threat to the residents or the adjoining buildings.

Talking to Bathinda Tribune, Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said, “The task of demolition of such buildings is not with the MCB. Last year, we had helped the PWD in demolishing two unsafe buildings on Railway Road. Since it is not in our purview, we do not have list of buildings that are old and unsafe.”

Meanwhile, SDO of the B&R Department, PWD, Vishal Garg, said, “The responsibility of unsafe buildings lies both with the PWD and the MCB. While the government-owned buildings fall under the PWD, the private buildings are to be looked after by the MCB. In case of government-owned buildings, the departments approach the PWD with their requests to demolish or renovate the old structures. We then send a team to conduct a check of the building in question and then take a decision whether it needs to be demolished or renovated.”

Tenant trouble

In case of most of such structures in the city, there is also the trouble of getting the tenants to vacate the buildings. Since the ground floor of the majority of these buildings accommodates shops, the shopkeepers refuse to vacate the place before the building can be demolished.

Owner of a shop adjoining one such building in Sadar Bazar said, “This structure is so old that we are fearful every monsoon season that the building may collapse. The owner of this building is now based in New Delhi and is trying to sell it off. It is because of the tenant shopkeepers that the deal falls off as they are not willing to leave. Their claim is that they have been working from the same place for several decades now and cannot go anywhere else.”

Emotional connect

Another factor, which is stopping the owners of such buildings demolish the structures is the fact that the building was handed down to them by their forefathers.

“Some of the structures were constructed before 1947. The design of these buildings is an indicator of the fact that the Mughal architecture was a great influence at that time. These structures don’t have balconies and the walls are lined with windows to provide ventilation. These may be unsafe but at the same time, hold heritage value,” said architect Kamlesh Sharma.