Kamathipura building collapse opened up the Pandora’s box and give rise to the way we give importance to security in old and dilapidated buildings in Metro. Patharwala building was more than 100 years old and undergoing repair and thus caught up with the age and collapsed. Whether, it is pagri system or plain rented or owner occupied, loss of life should be avoided. Municipal Corporations should be vested with enough powers by the courts so that such buildings are either repaired by levying repair charges on the tenant or on the owner or completely demolish the structure and go for redevelopment. A monthly cess or compulsory insurance on such old buildings above 30 years vintage will go a long way in mitigating such recurring human tragedies. The Municipal Corporations while issuing notices to the residents of structurally gone weak buildings to evacuate, should also make alternate temporary shelters to enable them to shift there immediately, as without having any such alternate arrangements, where can they think of shifting their families with bag and baggage. In this case, those who had such an arrangement, vacated, left and saved their lives. But those who did not have said sort of arrangement to shift and stay, had to remain compulsorily in the said dilapidated buildings and ultimately paid price with similar tragedies.
C.K. Subramaniam
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
